The Outsiders: Sky's Second Chance
by sabe96
Summary: It's Sky's second chance. Although her life is better now she still has to deal with her inner demons, which are the three faces that still plague her mind everyday. Join Sky once again on her journey through life. Will everything finally be good and stay that way? Or will a familiar face sneak it's way back into her life trying to ruin it and her happiness all over again?
1. Chapter 1

It's been a little over a year since the whole Carter, Seth, and Cole fiasco. Darry just turned 21, Soda turned 19 a month before him, Pony turned 17 the week before Soda's birthday, and I turned 15 just last week. Everything has been pretty normal since it all ended, well as normal as it can be because let's face it nothing about our family is normal. I've stopped keeping secrets and lying to my brothers and the gang, if something happens to me good or bad I tell them. The only thing that keeps plaguing my thoughts is what happened to Carter? I fought him and beat his head in the day of the rumble, by the way us greasers won, all the socs fled because they were too scared of us. Seth and Cole moved away because a rumor started going around about what they did to me, so they left the state. I don't know what happened to Carter, I just went to school one day and he was gone. I haven't seen him anywhere, heck I haven't even heard anyone at school say his name since that day. Did he disappear? Did he flee the country? Did he move to a different state? Did somebody finally make my wish come true and kill him? I don't know what happened to him but I really don't care anymore, he is out of my life and can't bother me anymore.

"Penny for your thoughts?" someone asks snapping me out of my inner thoughts.

"What?" I ask confused.

"Whatcha thinking about?" someone asks which I now see is Chris. I met Chris on the first day of school in my English class. Chris is a greaser like me and he's pretty cute. We talk a lot during the school day and when we have to do partner work in English we are always partners. I think he likes me like in the more than friends way. I'm not sure if I like him back though, I mean I've never had feelings in that way for a guy before. I've never actually done anything like this before, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel or what I'm supposed to do or how to act in these situations.

I realize that I still haven't answered his question so I say "Nothing important, just stuff."

"Hey Sky, can I ask you something?" Chris asks while we're walking to English which is our last period of the day.

"Yeah sure." I simply say.

"Umm... I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go to the movies with me Friday night?" he asks nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"I'd have to run it by my brothers and make sure it's okay with them, but yeah I'd like that." I tell him shyly.

"Great." he says his body language immediately relaxing.

"Can I get back to you about it tomorrow, after I ask my brothers?" I ask.

"Yeah sure." he says as we walk into the classroom and take our seats in the back next to each other.

I say bye to Chris once the period ends and then I head out to the front of the school to meet Pony, Steve, Two-bit, and Johnny.

"Hey guys." I say once I'm next to them.

"Hey." is all they reply as we start walking home. When we start approaching the house I notice Darry's truck in the driveway which means that him and Soda are home early from work.

"Hey." I say as I walk through the door and set down my backpack. Pony comes in right after me since Steve, Two-bit, and Johnny all went home or to the lot or something.

"Hey Sky, how was school?" Darry asks not looking up from his newspaper.

"It was okay, same old stuff." I tell him sitting down next to Soda on the couch.

"What's with the blush baby girl?" Soda asks me.

"I'm not blushing." I tell him but the minute those words leave my mouth I feel my face getting even hotter than it was before he asked me the question.

"Yeah you are Sky." Pony says sitting on the other side of me.

"Did something happen at school Sky?" Darry asks.

"Yeah." I simply say my face probably becoming as red as a tomato.

"Want to tell us what happened?" Pony asks.

"Umm... well you know my friend Chris?" I ask.

"Yeah. What about Chris?" Darry asks even though I'm sure he already knows where this is going.

"Well he asked me to go out Friday night. Can I go?" I ask softly not sure how they're going to react. All of my brothers are silent for several minutes until one of them finally speaks up.

"I don't know Sky." Darry says running a hand through his hair.

"Please." I beg though I'm not sure why I am because I still don't really know how I feel about Chris. Maybe I want to go so bad because for the first time I will be in control and be going because I want to, not because I have to.

"Are you sure you're ready to do something like this Sky?" Pony asks and I know exactly what he's referring to.

"It's been over a year, I think I'm ready. Plus I will be in control of this situation, I'm not being forced in to it against my own will." I say.

"Where will you guys be going?" Soda asks looking at me, somewhat giving into the idea letting me go.

"To the movie house." I state simply.

"I guess you can go, but I get to drop you off there and then Chris can walk you home. Okay?" Darry says sternly.

"Okay." I say with a small smile forming on my face.

"I still don't like the idea of you going on a date with some guy." Soda says in an over protective brother tone of voice.

"It's not just some guy, it's my friend Chris." I tell him.

"I still don't like it. I guess I won't ever like it cause you're my baby sister and I don't like the idea of you dating one bit." he says wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to him.

"I'll still be your baby sister, nothing will ever change that." I tell him resting my head on his shoulder.

 **Hi! So I'm back! I really hope you like the first chapter of 'The Outsiders: Sky's Second Chance' which is** **the sequel to 'The Outsiders: What if'! I would like to thank Maylie and Thewritevoice for giving me the ideas for the title of this story! The next chapter will be Sky's date with Chris. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Chris, wait up!" I shout running down the hallway to catch up to him.

"Hey Sky." he says looking down at me with a small smile on his face.

"Umm...my brothers said that I can go out with you tonight." I tell him a small smile forming on my face.

"That's great! How bout I pick you up around 7?" he asks the smile on his face growing bigger.

"Umm...my brother Darry said the only way I can go is if he gets to drop me off there and then you can walk me home. Is that okay?" I ask him timidly worried that he's going to not be okay with it.

"It's okay Sky, so why don't you have him drop you off there around 7 and I will meet you outside the theater." he says reassuring me.

"Okay, I'll see you then." I say waving at him as I walk away to my first period class. To my surprise the school day goes by in a blur and when the final bell rings it seems like the day just started, that's how fast it went by. When I get home I immediately go to my room and sit at the desk to do my homework, wanting to finish it before my date with Chris tonight. It's 4 o'clock when I finally finish it all, Darry and Soda should be home in about an hour. If it was last night I would've started making dinner by now but it's Pony's night to cook so he's in the kitchen making it. I go out in the living room and plop myself down on the couch, turning on Mickey.

"Hey baby girl." Soda says coming through the door what seems like only minutes later but is really an hour later I notice looking up at the clock to see that it's a little past 5.

"Hey." I say back looking up at him briefly before turning my attention back to the t.v.

"Where's Pony?" he asks sitting down next to me.

"In the kitchen making dinner." I tell him simply. He just nods in response.

"You smell like a sweaty car engine." I tell him in disgust, plugging my nose.

"Yeah I know, I have to go take a shower before dinner." he says getting up and heading for the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey peanut how was school today?" Darry asks as usual coming through the door and setting down his tool belt.

"Fine, boring as usual." I tell him shrugging my shoulders.

"So what time am I dropping you off at the movie house tonight?" he asks shutting the t.v. off so that my attention is completely focused on him.

"Around 7. Chris is going to meet me outside of the movie house and then walk me home once the movie is over." I tell him standing up and stretching out my limbs.

"Okay sounds good." he says looking at me once more before heading for the kitchen. He may say that it's okay but the look on his face says that he is completely against this, all my brothers are actually. But, they'll get over it eventually I mean I'm 15 now so a guy was going to ask me out at some point, it's just bound to happen.

I follow Darry into the kitchen and grab plates and silverware to set the table. After we've all finished dinner and Soda is in the kitchen washing the dishes I look up at the clock and notice that it's 6:30 so I should probably start getting ready. I first go in the bathroom and brush my teeth, before going into my room to change into something else. I decide to wear a pair of my jeans and one of my purple shirts. I then pair it with my leather jacket that Soda got me for my birthday last year, along with the bracelet Steve got me and then I put on my black converse lacing them up. When I'm done the clock says ten of 7, so I go out of our room and into the living room to find Darry.

"Hey Sky you ready to go?" Darry asks before I even have the chance to.

"Yeah. I do look okay right? I'm not really sure how any of this works." I ask quietly.

"Baby girl you look fine." Soda says coming up behind me placing his hands on my shoulders reassuringly.

"Okay." I say believing him because he's been on dates millions of times so he has to know what he's talking about when it comes to this stuff.

"Don't worry about not knowing what to do or how this works, just go and have a good time." he tells me smiling at me.

"Soda's right Sky, just go and enjoy yourself and if he does anything to you or anything bad happens tell him that your brothers will beat the shit out of him." Darry says completely serious.

"Okay I get the message. Now can we go please? I don't want to be late." I ask him.

"Lead the way peanut." Darry says ushering me out the door. I hop in the passenger seat and Darry gets behind the wheel, the ride to the movie house is very short so we get there in no time. Once Darry puts the car in park, I hop out and start to walk to where Chris is standing by the entrance.

"Sky wait." Darry says calling me back to the truck.

"Yeah?" I question.

"Be careful and have a good time and I want him to walk you home right after the movie is over. Okay?" he says sternly.

"Okay, bye Darry." I say waving at him as he drives off.

"Hey." Chris greets me once I'm standing in front of him.

"Hey. Should we head inside and find seats?" I ask timidly feeling my face already heating up and the movie hasn't even started yet.

"Yeah, let's go." he says grabbing my hand and leading us to the entrance. I offered to pay for my ticket but Chris insisted on paying. Once inside we both go and get a pepsi before sitting down in seats somewhat in the back. Probably 20 minutes into the movie a chill runs up my spin making me shiver, it probably wasn't the best idea on my part to wear my leather jacket because it's not that warm.

"Are you cold?" Chris asks me in a whisper.

"Yeah a little." I say back. Chris smiles at me and then wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to him, instantly providing me with the warmth I was needing.

"Better?" he asks sending another chill down my spine, but this time it's not because I'm cold it's because he's making me nervous. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I don't know what to do in a situation like this but it's kind of hard not to.

"Yeah thanks." I say resting my head on his shoulder. We sit like this for the rest of the movie, his arm wrapped around me and my head resting on his shoulder. Once the movie is over we both stand up and start walking towards the exit, as we're walking Chris grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers. Chris and I walk back to my house at a slow pace not really in a hurry, just enjoying each others company. Once we reach my house Chris walks me up the porch front steps and we just stand there facing each other with our hands still intertwined.

"Well here we are." he says still not letting go of my hand which I don't mind one bit.

"Thanks for walking me home, I had a really good time tonight." I say shyly a small smile forming on my face and my cheeks heating up immensely.

"Me too." he says letting go of my hand and leaning in closer to me.

"What are you doing?" I ask confused.

"I'm going to kiss you." he says his face not even two inches away from mine. I smile shyly at him before his lips are placed on mine. I'm nervous at first not really sure what to do and also kind of shocked, but once I get past that I start to kiss him back. As we're kissing though thoughts of Carter forcefully kissing me and thoughts of what he did to me start running through my head. In my mind now instead of seeing and knowing that Chris is kissing me all I can see is Carter and how rough and forceful he was when he kissed me against my own will. I immediately shove Chris hard not wanting him anywhere near me now.

"Stop, don't touch me." I tell him sternly.

"What's wrong?" he asks completely confused by my reaction.

"Go away! Leave me alone!" I start to shout at him as flashbacks start running through my head fogging up my senses.

"Sky you're talking crazy talk." he says calmly still confused.

"I said no! I said no!" I shout at him as he morphs into Carter, I distance myself even further away from him until I hit the railing on the other side of the porch. I hold my arms out in front of me in case he decides to come closer to me.

"What's going on out here?" I hear Darry ask frantically coming outside hearing the commotion.

"Leave me alone! I said no!" I shout again tears starting to rapidly fall down my face.

"Baby girl calm down, you're okay." I hear Soda tell me, I can't see him though because I'm still stuck in the flashback. I'm back in that abandoned storage closet with Seth, Carter, and Cole surrounding me like lions do before they eat their prey. Seth yanks me up roughly by my hair holding me in place while Carter roughly places his lips on mine before moving down to my neck and then back to my lips, unbuttoning the buttons on my shirt as he goes.

"Kiss me back you bitch!" he shouts at me slapping me across the face before roughly placing his lips on mine once again. Against my will I kiss him back not wanting to get beat anymore than I already am. I can now feel the cold air on my stomach since my shirt is completely unbuttoned. I feel Seth and Cole release their grip on me only to slide my shirt off my shoulders before once again tighten their grip on me. Carter pulls his lips off mine finally allowing me to take in the much needed air he was depriving me of, but my happiness is short lived as he snakes his hands around to my back to unsnap my bra.

"Please don't." I whimper but my pleas don't stop him and he just continues to pull my bra completely off, leaving me bare in front of him. I try to pull my arms out of Seth and Cole's grasp to cover myself but I can't because they are too strong. I squeeze my eyes shut when I feel Carter's big and rough hands on my chest. I try to hold back the sob forming in my throat but I can't and it just comes out, which earns me another hit from Carter this time to my stomach.

"Baby girl you have to snap out of it. They're not here, it's not real, you're safe at home, they can't hurt you anymore. Come on baby girl, come back to us." I hear Soda's begging voice break through my thoughts, snapping me out of my flashback. I'm now out of that abandoned storage closet and transported back on the porch with my brothers and Chris surrounding me. I turn my head and look at Soda through my blurred vision due to all my tears, I continue to sob even harder and collapse into his arms hanging onto him like he's my life line.

"Shhh...you're okay. I'm right here, Soda's here." he coos as my whole body trembles in his grasp. He rubs his hand up and down my back soothingly trying to calm me down while kissing my head and whispering soothing words to me. It's not helping though, I grasp his shirt tighter in my hands my knuckles probably turning white but I'm terrified that if I let go he will disappear and Carter will take his place.

"I'm out of here. Your sister is a wack job, I never want to see her again." Chris says disgusted with me.

"Watch your mouth you bastard." Darry hisses punching him in the face hard.

I feel Soda's grip on me loosen slightly making me freak out even more, he can't let go of me if he does he'll disappear and I'll be back in that closet.

"No don't let me go, please don't let me go. They'll take me away if you let me go." I cry gripping his shirt tighter in my hands.

"Shh... baby girl, I'm not going to let go of you. I'm right here, nobody is going to take you away. You're okay baby girl just try to calm down, I don't want you to pass out. You're safe, I'm not going anywhere. Soda's got you." he coos reassuring me by tightening his grip on me, but not painfully so.

"You're all nuts, but she's the craziest out of all of you." Chris spats pointing at me, so I hide my face in the crook of Soda's neck so I can no longer see the disgusted look on his face that is directed towards me. My sobs slowly turn to whimpers as Soda continues to rub his hand up and down my back soothingly, still whispering soothing words to me and telling me how much he loves me.

"Get out of here, I never want to see you near this house ever again or you'll regret it. If you have half a brain you'll listen to my warning because next time I won't be so nice." Darry hisses before punching him in the face once again. Chris then walks down the porch steps and sulks away down the street and out of my life forever.

"I'm sorry for freaking out like that but when he started kissing me I was immediately brought back to what they did to me." I say quietly lifting my head up from Soda's shoulder to look at all of them.

"Peanut you have nothing to be sorry for." Darry says sadly walking over to me and picking me up out of Soda's grasp and holding me tight to him, surrounding me in his strong embrace that keeps me safe from everything bad in the world.

"I knew you weren't ready for this yet Sky." Pony says quietly but still in an 'I told you so' tone of voice.

"I know but I wanted to think I was, I don't think I will ever be ready for something like this after what I went through." I say hiding my face in the crook of Darry's neck.

"Baby girl you will be ready to date at some point, but it's just going to take a lot of time because it's par for the course when you go through something traumatic like you have." Soda says softly rubbing his hand up and down my back while I cling tighter to Darry not wanting him to put me down just yet because right now I still need that safety blanket that his embrace provides me with.

"Can we go to bed now? I'm tired." I ask sniffling at the end and wiping away some of my tears on Darry's shirt.

"Yeah peanut it's kind of late anyways." Darry says still not putting me down and carrying me inside with Pony and Soda following behind us. Once inside he puts me down and I go into the bathroom to get ready for bed and change into some of my pajamas. Once I'm done I put my clothes in the hamper before going into my room and getting in bed, crawling under the covers. Darry comes in shortly after to say goodnight.

"Goodnight peanut." he says leaning over and kissing my head.

"Goodnight Superman. Sorry about your shirt." I say.

"Sky it's okay, I love you." he says giving me a soft smile.

"I love you too." I tell him before he turns around and walks out the door shutting off the light on his way out.

Shortly after he leaves the room Pony and Soda come in all ready for bed. They both climb in on either side of me snuggling down under the covers themselves.

"You okay now baby girl?" Soda asks rolling over to face me.

"Not really but I'm getting there." I tell him quietly.

I roll over on my side facing the other way when I realize that Soda isn't going to say anything else. Soda doesn't say anything, all he does is wrap his arms tightly around me pulling me close to him, shielding me from all the bad thoughts that are constantly swirling through my head.

"Am I ever going to be my old self again, like before all this happened to me? Or am I going to be crazy and broken like this forever?" I ask him quietly feeling fresh tears flowing down my face but I quickly reach up and wipe them away.

"You'll get through this baby girl and you will eventually be the Sky you were before once again. I think one part of you will be different, but that's expected when you go through something traumatic like you have. But no Sky you won't be broken and like this forever. You have us and the gang to help you get through this, it's just going to take time." he says softly kissing my temple.

"Okay. You'll help me though right? I can't do this without you Pepsi." I ask him turning my head to look at him.

"Of course I will baby girl, I'm not going anywhere. Now try to get some sleep." he says kissing my forehead before laying his head back down on the pillow. I turn my head back the other way and also lay my head back on my pillow, closing my eyes and getting some sleep like Soda told me to.

 **Long and dramatic chapter, I know. As always please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

It's the end of the day and I am currently walking to my locker to put the books I don't need in there so that I don't have to carry them all home. After I shut my locker, I turn around and jump a mile not expecting Chris to be standing there.

"My god! You just gave me a heart attack." I shout at him, holding my hand to my chest waiting for my now racing heart beat to return to normal.

"Sorry." he says softly.

"What the hell are you doing here anyways? I thought you didn't want anything to do with me anymore?" I hiss at him.

"I came to apologize for how I acted the other night. I'm sorry for acting like that and for yelling at you and calling you all those names." he says apologetically.

I think long and hard for a moment before saying, "I forgive you."

"Thank you." he says.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I have to get home it's my turn to make dinner tonight." I tell him starting to walk away but he grabs my arm pulling me back.

"Wait a second." he says and I see a look overcome his face that I've never seen before and it gives me a very bad feeling.

"What?" I ask.

"I heard about what you did last year with those socs." he says with an evil smirk forming on his face while he runs his hand up my thigh resting it on my hip for a second before it moves around squeezing my backside.

"I didn't do anything." I say angrily pushing him away from me.

"Oh come on, don't play dumb. You didn't say no to those socs. So why say no to me, I'm a greaser like you. So let's go have a good time and I'll be rough just how you like it." he says with that smirk still plastered on his face and then he brings his hand up and cups my breast. I bring my fist up and punch him square in the jaw causing him to stumble backwards away from me.

"No! Nobody is ever going to lay a hand on me again without my permission. Not a soc, not a greaser, and especially not greaser scum like you. Now get out of here and never talk to me or approach me again or I will have my brothers deal with you and they won't be as nice as I am being to you." I spit and then punch him in the face once more before grabbing my stuff and walking out of the school towards my house.

* * *

"I'm home!" I shout through the house, letting the screen door slam behind me before I set my bag down.

"Hey baby girl, how was school?" Soda asks me coming into the living room.

"Fine, boring as usual. I did get my English paper back though and I got an A." I tell him beaming.

"That's my brainiac of a sister, I'm proud of you baby girl." he says proudly, pulling me to him and hugging me tight.

"Thanks. Now I'm going to go start dinner so that it's ready before Darry gets home." I tell him pulling away and walking towards the kitchen.

As if on cue I hear the screen door slam shut, just as I'm finishing setting the table.

"Hey Sky how was your day?" Darry asks as usual coming into the kitchen looking exhausted.

"Good. How was yours? You look exhausted." I ask.

"I am, we worked on a massive house today." he says taking a seat at the head of the table.

"Pony, Soda come eat." I shout through the house.

"Coming! What did you make? I'm starving." Pony asks impatiently coming into the kitchen and sitting down in his seat.

"Nice to see you too, and I made chili." I tell him. We all dig in and the table is pretty quiet since we are all too busy eating to talk about anything.

"Soda it's your turn to do the dishes." I tell him once we're all finished.

"I know, I know." he says not happy about it. I help him carry all the dishes to the kitchen and place them in the sink before heading out to the living room. Right as I am about to sit down though I hear a quiet knock on the door. I get up to answer it and see the last person I want to see right now.

"What the hell are you doing here? Did you not understand my warning earlier?" I hiss at him, opening the door and shoving him backwards down the porch steps.

"Oh you know that you didn't mean what you said. So let's try this again." Chris says with a smirk, wrapping his arm around to my backside once again pulling me flush up against him.

"Let me go." I growl, trying to push myself away from him but his grip on my backside just tightens almost painfully so. I open my mouth to shout for one of my brothers but I am silenced by unwanted lips being placed on mine and a tongue other than mine in my mouth. I continue to squirm, trying to get as far away from him as I can but it is no use. I try again to push away from him but he wraps his hand around to the back of my head, holding me in place. I then feel him remove his other hand from my backside and snake it around to the hem of my shirt. I feel him trying to unbutton the buttons on my shirt but I can tell that he is struggling, he eventually gives up and rips my shirt open. I shiver and try to pull away again when I feel his cold hand snake up my body and under my bra, groping my chest like he did earlier. I finally realize that I'm not going to be able to get away from him by pushing him, so I do the next thing that pops into my head. I bite down on his lower lip as hard as I can until I taste blood, he immediately pulls away from me swearing and calling me a bitch.

"I told you not to touch me without my permission ever again!" I shout at him. As he stands up and glares at me I walk forward and punch him in the face catching him off guard. Before he even has time to process what just happened I punch him again making him stumble back. I then bring my knee up and knee him in the gut making him fall to the ground. I charge at him standing over him while I repeatedly punch him anywhere that I can. I punch him in the face, throat, stomach, and then I kick him in the groin as hard as I can before repeating the process over and over again.

"What's going on out here?" I hear Darry's booming voice ask from behind me. I don't stop though, I just continue to punch him over and over again, all I can see is red. Eventually I feel an arm wrap around my waist, pulling me off of Chris.

"Baby girl, you need to calm down." I hear Soda tell me sternly, trying to pull me away while I struggle to get out of his grasp so that I can beat Chris some more.

"No! Let me go! I told him no! He has to pay!" I growl trying to kick his legs out from under him.

"Darry help me out here." Soda says to Darry. He walks over to us and grabs my legs so that I can't try to kick Soda anymore. I see Pony help Chris up before pushing him out the gate.

"Never touch or come near me again! Never come to this house ever again either you ass hole!" I shout at him continuing to struggle to get out of Darry and Soda's hold on me, wanting to run down the street and beat his face in even more than I already have.

"Sky calm down, _now_." Darry tells me in a fatherly tone clearly not messing around. Him and Soda don't let go of me until we are back inside and they have set me down on the couch.

I don't say anything. I just sit there trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down, I clench and unclench my fists trying to keep my anger in check and to hold me back from jumping off this couch and running after the scum bag.

"Okay." I finally say grabbing at each side of my shirt and pulling them together trying to cover myself up the best I can.

"Sky what the hell was that?" Darry asks me angrily.

"He touched me." is all I say quietly not looking at any of them.

"What!?" Soda exclaims jumping up from his spot on the floor with a look that could kill on his face.

"Why do you think I was beating him to a pulp? Did you just think that I saw him outside and decided that I wanted to beat him up?" I ask them angrily.

"No Sky we don't. We just didn't think that he did that." Pony says somewhat apologetically.

"Well he did. I told him no just like I told him no at school. I-"

"What do you mean at school?" Darry asks now fuming.

"He cornered me at school and touched me, but I told him no and punched him in the face. He then came over here and I once again told him no but this time I wasn't quick enough to punch him before he could get his hands on me. He held me to him, grabbing onto my backside while forcefully kissing me and shoving his tongue in my mouth. I tried repeatedly to push him away from me but he just tightened his grip." I tell them.

"How did your shirt get ripped?" Pony asks before I can finish telling them what happened.

"He couldn't get my shirt unbuttoned with only one hand, so he ripped it open instead. He then snaked his hand up under my bra and you know what he did, I don't need to explain it anymore. By that point I was furious, so I bit down on his lower lip as hard as I could until I tasted blood. He pulled away from me and that's when I completely lost it. I charged at him and by that point I didn't realize what I was doing because all I saw was red. I couldn't stop punching him, that is until you guys came out and pulled me off of him." I tell them, wiping away the one tear that I let fall. Why do things like this keep happening to me? What did I ever do to the world to make it hate me so much?

"I'm going to bash his head in." Darry says angrily.

"Darry you're forgetting that Sky already did that." Pony points out.

"I'm sorry baby girl. I'm sorry that this is still happening to you, but I promise that I will never let it happen again." Soda tells me, picking me up off the couch and holding me in his safe and warm embrace.

"You promise?" I ask, holding onto him tighter. I don't know why I keep asking this every time one of them makes this promise to me because they are never able to keep it, but I feel that it will make them feel better if I ask them because they will think that I actually believe that they will make sure that nobody will ever hurt me again. In all reality though I know that that's not true. Whether they make a promise to me or not I am still going to get hurt and they can't stop it, just like they couldn't stop it last year.

"I promise." he says reassuring me while kissing my temple.

"I have to admit though Sky, I am proud of you for defending yourself and beating his head in." Darry tells me with a proud look on his face.

"Wait, you're actually happy that I got in a fight with someone?" I ask baffled, letting go of Soda and standing on my feet.

"You defended yourself so of course I'm proud." he says coming over and wrapping his arm around me.

"Well I'm going to go throw these clothes away and then take a shower. I feel so dirty and want to get the feeling of his hands on me off." I say shivering at the memory of his hands on my body.

"Okay Sky." Pony says while he takes a seat on the couch next to Soda and Darry goes back to reading his newspaper.

I grab a towel out of the hall closet and a clean pair of pajamas before going in the bathroom and shutting the door behind me. I turn the faucet on letting the water heat up while I get out of my somewhat bloody clothes and throw them in the trash. I then step into the warm hot shower and thoroughly wash my body more than once. I then just stand there under the hot water for a few minutes, letting it relax my tense muscles. When I get out of the shower I wrap a towel around my hair and then one around my body, I then go into the bedroom shutting and locking the door behind me. I dry off my body before putting on my underwear and sports bra, and then my shorts and tank top. I unwrap the towel from my head and comb out my hair before putting it up in a messing bun. I hear someone coming down the hallway so I quickly unlock the door because my brothers don't like me locking doors ever since what happened last year. My thoughts drift to my scars as they so often do and I take off my shirt and stand in front of our mirror just staring at them. I run my fingertips along them, tracing the jagged big and little scars that cover my torso in various places.

"Baby girl are you decent? Can I come in?" I hear Soda ask from the other side of the door.

"Yeah." I tell him, while I turn to the side to look at the scar on my leg and also run my fingertips along it. I'm stuck with these for the rest of my life. I will never forget what they did to me for almost a year.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by Soda's hand lightly running over the other scar on my other leg. I look up at him with the tears in my eyes that I refuse to let fall, I don't want to cry over what they did to me anymore but I just can't help it.

"I'm so sorry baby girl." he says softly reaching his hand up to cup my cheek.

I don't say anything and instead just turn my attention back to the mirror, continuing to look at my scars. They're so ugly, _I'm_ so ugly. I hate myself, I hate that I'm so weak, I hate that I let those socs do those things to me for almost a year, I hate that Chris turned out to be a major deusch bag instead of my friend. I just hate everything about my life and everything about myself. I look in the mirror again and I can't take it anymore, I bring my fist up and punch the mirror as hard as I can screaming in the process. The mirror breaks into a million little pieces covering the floor. I then collapse to the floor sitting in the middle of all the glass and crying my eyes out.

"Hey, hey, hey baby girl it's okay, you're okay." Soda says sympathetically but I can also hear how worried he is about me in his voice. He kneels down in front of me and takes my hand that isn't cover in blood in his. My brothers are all worried about me because I'm not the same as I was before and I never will be. Darry wants me to go to a therapist again so that I can talk about what I went through and how I feel with someone outside of the gang, but I refuse. For once Soda doesn't agree with Darry and I'm extremely happy about that. Soda thinks that it will just make everything worse if I go to a therapist because I will be reliving what I went through over and over again by talking about it with some stranger I don't even know. I mean look how long it took for me to tell my family, like I'm going to tell some stupid therapist about it.

"Pepsi I'm never going to be able to forget what they did to me, they are always going to be there. I mean look at me. They branded me making sure that I will never forget them no matter how hard I try." I shout at him.

"Baby girl I'm sorry, I really don't know what else to say because nothing that I say will make it go away. If I could I would go back in time and make sure that I stopped them before they even got the chance to put their hands on you, but I can't. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to protect you from them." he says his voice cracking at the end.

"What's going on in here? What happened?" I hear Darry frantically ask from the doorway, he must of heard my scream and the glass shatter.

"I broke the mirror." I whimper.

"Why peanut?" he asks softly coming in the room and sitting down on the floor next to me.

"Because of these." I say angrily pointing at the scars covering my body.

"I'm sorry peanut." is all he says while wrapping his arm around me and pulling me closer to him. He doesn't have to ask me to elaborate because I've had a melt down like this more than once and it's always about the same thing, the only thing that's different this time is that I broke a mirror I've never done that before.

"Can one of you go get me some of our long strip band aids so that I can cover them? Maybe covering them up will help me forget about them at least for a little bit." I ask trying my hardest to hold back my sobs but it doesn't work because they just keep coming out.

"Sure peanut." Darry says kissing my forehead before heading for the bathroom. He comes back a few minutes later with 8 band aids one to cover each of my 8 scars. He also comes out with some gauze to wrap my hand up with. After he's wrapped my hand up, I take one band aid at a time from his hands and put them over each scar making sure that they are fully covered before moving onto the next one. After they're all covered I put my tank top back on. I just stand there awkwardly not making eye contact with either of them, while still crying my eyes out not really sure what I want to do right now. Part of me wants to get in bed and hide under the covers for the rest of my life, but the other part of me wants Soda to hold me in his tight embrace and go sit in the living room surrounded by all my brothers, the only family I have left. I mean the gang is my family too, but they're not my brothers.

"Soda can you carry me out to the living room? I really need to be surrounded by you, Pony, and Darry right now." I ask him reaching up to wipe away some of my tears.

"Of course baby girl." he says moving my hands away from my face and replacing them with his as he tries to wipe away the rest of my tears. He then wraps his arms around my waist and picks me up into his arms while I wrap my arms tightly around his neck, resting my head on his chest.

"I'll be out in a few minutes Sky, I'm just going to clean up the glass first." Darry tells me.

"Okay." I whisper quietly. Soda then carries me out to the living room and sits down on the couch with me in his lap.

A few minutes later Darry comes out into the living room and sits down in his recliner.

"Do you feel better now peanut?" Darry asks me.

"Yeah, a little." I tell him softly, snuggling more into Soda's chest.

"What happened?" Pony asks noticing my wrapped up hand and the band aids on my body.

"I broke the mirror in our bedroom." I tell him simply. He just nods his head at me not needing me to elaborate just like Darry didn't need me to because all of my brothers know why I have my major meltdowns.

"I'm sorry Sky." Pony says sadly.

"I know you guys don't know what else to say, but can you stop apologizing for something that you didn't do, please." I beg.

"Sure baby girl." Soda says kissing my head.

"Can we go to bed now? I'm really tired all of a sudden." I ask right before a yawn escapes my lips.

"Yeah peanut, I was just going to suggest we do since it's getting kind of late." Darry says standing up from his recliner and stretching out his muscles. Soda stands up with me still in his arms, realizing that I don't want to be put down.

"Goodnight Superman." I say on my way by Darry.

"Goodnight peanut." he says and kisses my head right before Soda and I walk by him and into our room. Pony comes in the room just a beat behind Soda and I, Soda sets me down in the middle of the bed before him and Pony climb in on either side of me.

"Night pone, night baby girl." Soda says stifling a yawn.

"Goodnight." Pony and I say at the same time.

After a few minutes of trying to fall asleep my body starts to shiver because I'm so cold at the moment for some reason, I hope I'm not getting sick.

"Soda, Soda." I say shaking him slightly.

"Hmmm." he groans.

"Soda." I say again shaking him some more.

"What is it Sky?" he asks frantically, turning over to face me with a look of concern on his face.

"I'm okay, I'm just really cold." I tell him as my body shivers once again and my teeth start chattering.

"Come here baby girl. I hope you're not coming down with something." he says concerned as I turn over on my side and he wraps his arm around me pulling me close to him, instantly providing me with the warmth I am needing.

"Better?" he asks sleepily as a yawn escapes his lips.

"Hmmm." I hum back sleepily, closing my eyes and quickly falling asleep.

 **I hope that you guys liked this super long chapter! I was going to split it into two but I decided not to because I think it works well as one chapter. A guest reviewer asked what Sky looks like. Sky is around 5'5' in height, she is thin in build, she has long curly light brown almost blonde hair, and she has blue eyes. I hope that answers your question! As always please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Soda's POV**

I'm thankful to wake up happy and refreshed after the stressful night we had with Sky last night. My happy mood increases even more when I see the bright sun shining through the blinds. I look over at the clock and see that it's 6:30 and I have to be to work at 8. I quickly hop out of bed trying my best not to wake up Sky because she doesn't have to get up for another 40 minutes, Pony's already up so I don't have to worry about waking him up. I don't understand him sometimes, I mean he gets up almost an hour before he has to for school, when I ask him about it he just says that he wants to continue reading his book or start a new one before school starts. I don't understand him sometimes. I grab a towel from the hall closet and my DX shirt and a pair of jeans before going into the bathroom to grab a quick shower. Once I'm out and all ready for the day I walk out into the kitchen and find Darry sitting at the table with his newspaper in one hand and his coffee in the other.

"Morning Darry." I say walking by him to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and a piece of chocolate cake before sitting next to him at the table.

"Morning. Chocolate cake is not breakfast Soda." he reprimands me.

"In my book it is." I say popping my last bit of cake in my mouth and then grin widely at him, he doesn't say anything and just shakes his head at me disapprovingly.

"Is Sky up yet?" I ask noticing that it's now 7:15 and her and Pony have to be to school by 8.

"I just sent Pony in there to wake her up but that was 5 minutes ago, you know how she hates mornings. She's probably refusing to get out of bed and arguing about it with Pony right now." he says knowing our baby sister all to well.

I'm about to respond but Pony coming into the kitchen stops me.

"Morning Pone. Did you finally get the princess to get out of bed?" I ask with a chuckle and a smile on my face.

"No, I think somethings wrong with her she doesn't look too good." he says.

"Soda you go check on her while I finish making Sky's and Pony's lunches and Pony finishes getting ready." Darry instructs.

"Okay Dar." I say simply and then head in the direction of our bedroom.

"Hey baby girl." I say softly sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking her over. When Pony said that she doesn't look too good that was an understatement, she looks awful. Her whole body is pale and the rosy red tint that her face normally has is completely gone. Her whole body is shaking vigorously and you can hear her teeth chattering. I can tell by her breathing that she is congested and that her nose is stuffed up because she is breathing with her mouth open which she never does unless she is stuffed up. I could tell that she was coming down with something last night, I knew that I should've given her some medicine or something.

"Baby girl." I softly say again placing my hand on her shoulder. The only thing I get in response is a groan and her turning over now facing me but she doesn't open her eyes.

"Come on baby girl." I say again trying to get a response out of her and for her to tell me what's exactly wrong.

"I d-d-d-don't f-fe-feel g-g-go-good Pe-p-si." she stutters through her teeth chattering.

"I know you don't baby girl. Can you tell me exactly what doesn't feel good?" I ask her dragging my cold finger tips down the side of her burning hot face.

"My body hurts all over and I'm really cold but also really hot at the same time and my stomach hurts really bad." she says still stuttering parts of it.

"Okay baby girl, I'm going to go get you some medicine you just stay put." I tell her kissing her forehead trying to figure out how high her temperature is and it has to be at least a 100 if not higher.

"How is she?" Darry asks coming into the kitchen right as I'm grabbing some medicine for Sky out of the cupboard.

"She looks awful Darry, I'm pretty sure she has the flu. I knew that I should've given her some medicine last night after she woke me up shivering but I was just so tired and didn't think of it." I tell him somewhat blaming myself for her being sick.

"Soda it's not your fault so don't blame yourself. I'm going to take Pony to school and you are going to stay here and take care of Sky." he tells me.

"Darry I can't, I have work." I tell him.

"I already called you out, it's a good thing that you have such a lenient boss and that he's close to the family or you probably would've been fired by now." he says.

"Yeah I know. Okay now you and Pony better get going before you're both late." I tell him looking up at the clock.

"You're right. Come on Pony, we're going to be late." he hollers out through the house.

"I'm coming." Pony responds running inside to grab his bag before running back outside and getting in the truck.

"Have a good day." I say as Darry's walking out the door.

"Make sure you take care of Sky, the last thing she needs right now is to be sick for a week with everything that she's gone through." he tells me right before the door slams shut behind him. Right after the door shuts I hear an awful sound come from the bedroom, I quickly run down the hallway to the bedroom to see what it is that I heard. When I get there Sky is on the floor throwing up, there is a lot on the floor and there is also some on herself. I can tell that she tried to make it to the bathroom but her body must be so weak that she wasn't able to before she threw up.

"It's okay baby girl, I'm right here." I tell her sitting down behind her, rubbing my hand up and down her back and holding her hair back with my other hand. After a few more minutes of her just sitting there throwing up probably everything that she ate yesterday she finally stops and immediately starts bawling her eyes out.

"What's wrong baby girl?" I ask her still rubbing my hand up and down her back soothingly.

"I made a mess! I'm so sorry." she cries somewhat angrily, I'm guessing that she's angry at herself.

"There's nothing to be sorry for baby girl, you're sick, it's okay." I tell her reassuringly.

"You should be at work, not here taking care of me. You go to work, I can take care of myself." she tells me sniffling through it cause of her stuffed up nose.

"No I shouldn't and no you can't take care of yourself, I mean come on Sky you couldn't even make it from the bed to the bathroom, there's no way that you can take care of yourself." I tell her.

"Okay." she says nodding her head at me.

"Now let's get you cleaned up." I say picking her up off the floor and into my arms. I carry her into the bathroom and set her down on the toilet seat before turning the water on and running her a bath. I don't want her to take a shower because I am afraid that she might fall. Once the tub is full and there is plenty of soap in the water I set two towels down on the sink counter and a new pair of her pajamas on top of them for her to put on after she's done.

"Okay baby girl, I'm going to go clean the bedroom up while you take a bath to get yourself cleaned up." I tell her.

"I don't like baths." she says pouting while crossing her arms in front of her chest, getting more of her throw up on her arms in the process. She may be sick but she still hates baths.

"It will make your aching muscles feel better. Now please just get in the tub so that I can clean up the bedroom." I beg her.

"Fine." she says not happy about it.

"Thank you. Now when you're all done and dressed call out for me and I will help you back into bed." I tell her before leaving the bathroom and shutting the door behind me. I then go out into the kitchen and get the mop and bucket. I fill the bucket with soapy water and then go back into the bedroom and start mopping up the throw up. When I'm done I rinse out the bucket and wring out the mop, I then go back into the bedroom and use a towel to dry off the wet floor and then put the dirty towel in the hamper.

"Soda, I'm done." I hear Sky's quiet voice say from the other side of the bathroom door. I go over to it and open it, stepping inside. She hands me her soiled clothes and I go back out into the hallway to put them in the dirty clothes hamper. When I come back in the bathroom Sky is sitting down on the closed toilet seat and crying again.

"What's wrong baby girl?" I ask her confused as to why she is crying.

"I don't feel good Pepsi and I'm so weak that I can't even pull my damn hair back in a ponytail." she says upset. She's always hated it when she would get sick, she hates that she can't do anything and that all of us have to drop everything to take care of her. No matter how many times we tell her she just never understands that that's what families do for each other, they take care of one another no matter the circumstances.

"It's okay baby girl I'll help you. Give me the hair elastic." I tell her holding my hand out for it. She doesn't say anything and just hands me the elastic, she then turns so that her back is facing me so that I can pull her hair back. I gather all of her hair up and make sure I have all the loose hairs pulled back too before wrapping the elastic around her hair 3 times making sure that her hair is pulled back nice and tight just how she likes it. I have a lot of practice at this since we lost our parents a few years ago. Darry and I may have been older but Sky and Pony were still young, I think Sky was 11 and Pony must've been 13. So let's just say that we all became experts at combing and styling her hair even though we'd rather not admit that.

"Thanks." she says quietly turning back around and hugging my waist.

"You're welcome baby girl. Now let's get some medicine into you and then get you back in bed." I say picking her up off the toilet seat and into my arms. I carry her back into the bedroom and have her take the medicine that I put on the night stand. I then pull the covers back and help her lay down before pulling the covers back over her and kissing her forehead, her temperature is still just about the same but hopefully the medicine will help bring it down. I don't want to leave her so I lean up against the head board and sit in bed on the other side of her. She rolls over onto her side facing me and grabs my hand and places it on her head. I know exactly what this means she does it all the time, she wants me to rub my hand through her hair and down her face. She never asks me to do this all she does is take my hand and place it on her head.

"Feel better baby girl." I whisper to her kissing her head again while continuing to run my hand through her hair and down her face while she slowly starts to fall back asleep and soon she is out like a light.

 **Poor Sky she doesn't feel too well. :( Please follow, favorite, and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Soda's POV**

I am woken with a start when the sound of a blood curdling scream breaks through my dream state of mind.

"Ahhhh!" Sky screams again at the top of her lungs while thrashing around in the bed. Her whole body is covered in sweat and her whole face is bright red. I feel her forehead to check her temperature and she is burning up. I then sit up and gather her up in my arms.

"Baby girl you're okay. I'm right here." I whisper in her ear while running my hand over her clammy forehead.

"Don't hurt me! Somebody help me!" she screams again while flailing her arms and hitting me in the face in the process.

"Shh, you're okay. I'm here, Soda's got you." I coo at her and hold her tighter to me while kissing the side of her head.

"Soda!?" she screams jumping out of my arms and swiveling her head back and forth frantically.

"Shhhh, I'm right here, calm down." I tell her softly and wrap my arms back around her pulling her to me.

"He hurt me again." she whimpers, turning around in my arms to face me. I know exactly who she's talking about, Carter. Even though she beat him in the rumble she still has these horrible nightmares all the time. It breaks my heart because there is nothing I can do to help her or make them go away.

"No, he didn't. It was just a bad dream baby girl. He can't hurt you anymore." I tell her and kiss her forehead and I pull back alarmed at how high her temperature is.

"Pepsi I don't feel good." she groans while holding her stomach.

"I know you don't but I'm going to make you feel better. Okay baby girl?" I tell her and push her forward slightly so that I can get out of bed.

"Soda..." she says trailing off.

"What is it baby girl?" I ask her turning around to face her. When I do I see that her face is green and she's going to throw up any second now. I quickly grab the bucket by my feet and hold it in front of her right as she throws up everything in her stomach.

"It's okay baby girl." I coo as I rub my hand up and down her back while she continues to throw up. I don't know how she can throw up this much when there's only like one meal in her stomach and she probably threw that up hours ago, so I don't know what else is in her stomach that is making her throw up.

"I'm all done for now." she says weakly while using the sleeve of her shirt to wipe off her mouth. At least that shirt will be going in the dirty clothes hamper after I have her take a cold bath while I remake the bed.

"Now come on baby girl, I'm going to get you in a cold bath." I tell her coming back into the room after rinsing out the throw up bucket and putting it back next to the bed.

"I hate baths. I already took one today. Why do I have to take another one and why does it have to be cold?" she asks weakly while pouting.

"I know you do but you need to take another one. You're covered in sweat and your clothes are drenched and it needs to be cold so that it will help bring down your temperature." I tell her.

"But the cold water is going to hurt these." she says but I don't understand what she's talking about.

"What do you mean? What is it going to hurt?" I ask her confused and kneel down on the floor in front of her so that she has to look at me.

"I can't tell you. Just forget about it." she says and hangs her head so that she doesn't have to look at me.

"Baby girl if you did something or someone hurt you again you need to tell me. _Right now._ " I tell her sternly and tilt her head up so that she has to look at me.

"Nobody hurt me." she tells me. So that means that she hurt herself again.

"Let me see them." I tell her and hold my hand out for her arm.

"Let you see what?" she asks me acting confused.

"You know what I'm talking about." I say giving her a knowing look.

"No I don't." she says still acting confused.

"Baby girl show me the cuts." I tell her getting straight to the point.

"What cuts?" she asks still trying to get out of this.

"Please baby girl." I beg her and give her a sad look.

"Okay." she sighs and then unfolds her arms and holds them out to me.

"Oh baby girl why did you start hurting yourself again?" I ask her sadly as I run my fingers over all of the small cuts on her forearms. There is probably 10 on each forearm. How she managed to hide these from us I have no idea.

"I started last week." she says softly while trying to pull her arms out of my grasp but I don't let her.

"Why though? You don't just cut yourself for no reason. What happened?" I ask her still running my fingertips lightly over her forearms.

"He made me do it." is all she says looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Who made you do it?" I ask her although I'm pretty sure I already know that she's talking about Carter.

"Carter did. In my dreams every night he cuts me over and over again, branding me. If there are going to be cuts covering my whole body I don't want them all to be there because they did them to me. This way some of the cuts are done by me which means that I had control of it. I just want my body to be mine again Pepsi." she explains letting her tears fall freely down her face.

"Your body is yours baby girl, nobody owns it except for you. Just like nobody owns you, you are your own person." I tell her and reach up to wipe away some of her tears with the pads of my thumbs.

"It's not my body though, it's theirs and it always will be theirs. It's because these will never go away." she says pointing at the multiple scars covering her small body. Once again she leaves me speechless, I don't know what to say to her because nothing I say will make it better. Plus nothing I say to her will change her mind or her way of thinking. Her and Darry are the stubborn ones of the family and once their mind is made up about something then you can't change it no matter how hard you try.

"It is your body baby girl but I'm not going to argue about this with you. One because you are sick and two because no matter how hard I try to change your mind I won't be able to because you are too stubborn for your own good. You are going to have to do something for me though when Darry gets home from work." I tell her.

"What's that?" she asks me somewhat nervous.

"You're going to have to tell him about these." I tell her and hold up her forearms to show her the cuts that she did to herself again.

"No, he'll get mad if he finds out what I've been doing to myself." she says pulling her arms out of my grasp and shaking her head back and forth.

"No he won't get mad baby girl, he will be sad though that you started doing this to yourself again." I tell her sadly.

"I don't want to tell him though. If he finds out that I've been hurting myself again then he will make me go and see that therapist again and I refuse to do that." she says crossing her arms firmly over her chest.

"Baby girl I promise you that I will never let him take you to see that therapist ever again. You do need to tell him this though, it's better that he hears it from you instead of me." I tell her.

"You promise that you'll never make me go back to that therapist?" she asks again.

"I promise." I tell her and pull her arms away from her chest and hold her hands in mine.

"Okay, I'll tell him." she sighs finally giving in.

"Thank you baby girl. Now come on let's get you in the bath." I tell her standing up and pulling her up with me.

"I told you that I don't want to take a bath." she complains but follows me into the bathroom anyways.

"I know you don't but you need to. Plus it will make your temperature go down and you'll feel better afterwards." I tell her while I start to fill up the tub with cold water.

"Fine." she sighs unhappily.

"Okay now I'm going to go change the bed and put a load of laundry in while you take a bath. Just throw your dirty clothes outside the door before you get in the tub." I tell her.

"Okay." she says and then shuts the door behind me.

"Here Soda." I hear shouted and then feel clothes hit my back after the sound of a door shutting. I bend down and pick them up and put them in the pile with the dirty bed sheets while I finish remaking the bed. After the bed is remade I pick up the pile of dirty laundry and put it in the washing machine and start it.

"Baby girl are you okay in there?" I ask through the bathroom door while knocking on it.

"Yeah I'm all done." she says and opens the door.

"Do you feel better?" I ask her.

"A little." she says.

"Good." I say and kiss her forehead and I am happy that when I pull away her temperature isn't nearly as high as it was earlier.

"Can you braid my hair?" she asks holding a hair elastic out to me.

"Sure." I tell her and follow her over to the bed. She sits down and I sit behind her and start to braid her hair down her back. When I'm done I wrap the elastic around the bottom of it and then kiss the top of her head.

"All done." I tell her while standing up.

"Thank you. Can I go sit out in the living room with you?" she asks looking up at me.

"Yeah baby girl you've been in bed almost all day." I tell her. She smiles and holds her arms out to me so I bend down and pick her up into my arms and then carry her out into the living room. I sit down on the couch and she gets comfortable curled up on my lap while we watch Mickey while waiting for Darry and Pony to get home. About an hour or so later Darry and Pony both come through the door, both looking exhausted.

"How was school Pony? Did you win your track meet?" I ask him while continuing to run my fingers through Sky's hair because every time I stop she grabs my hand and puts it back on her head wanting me to continue.

"Boring as usually and yeah we won." he says smiling.

"How was work Dar?" I ask him.

"Busy we worked on another big house today. How are you feeling Peanut?" Darry asks sitting down in his recliner and looking at Sky.

"Better." she says looking at him.

"Did you eat anything today?" he asks her.

"No. Soda tried to get me to but every time I even took a bite of something I threw it back up." she tells him.

"Oh, I'm sorry Peanut." he says, we all hate it when Sky's sick.

"Darry, Sky has to tell you something." I say and look down at Sky.

"What is it Peanut?" he asks her.

"I don't know." she says shrugging her shoulders.

"Baby girl we talked about this, you need to tell him." I whisper in her ear.

"Tell me what? What aren't you guys telling me?" Darry asks starting to get slightly irritated that we're hiding something from him.

"Fine. I started hurting myself again." Sky says and sits up holding out her arms to him so that he can see the cuts covering both of her forearms.

"Peanut why?" he asks her sadly, standing up and coming over to us. He kneels down in front of us and starts running the fingertips of his fingers over the cuts.

"I wanted my body to be mine again." she says simply.

"What do you mean Peanut? Your body is yours." he asks her confused.

"No it's not, it's theirs. I mean every cut on my body is because of them, they branded me. I just wanted there to be something on my body that is mine, something that I had control over." she says sadly.

"Oh Peanut, I'm so sorry." he says pulling her to him and hugging her tight.

"It's okay." she says pulling away and shrugging her shoulders.

"No it's not, but you need to promise us that you will never do this to yourself again." Darry tells her sternly.

"I promise that I will try my hardest not to do this to myself ever again." she says. Darry opens his mouth to argue with her but I stop him.

"Thank you baby girl, that's good enough for now." I tell her and kiss the top of her head.

"Sky you have an appointment tomorrow at noon." Darry tells her while standing up.

"With who? It better not be that stupid therapist again because if it is then I am not going and you can't make me." she says sternly and crosses her arms firmly over her chest.

"No it's not that therapist, it's a different type of therapist." he tells her.

"What type of therapist is it?" she asks him confused and I too give him a confused look because he never talked about Sky seeing another therapist with me.

"You're going to see a therapist that specializes in eating disorders." he tells her.

 **Someone asked if I was going to tackle Sky's eating disorder in this story so I thought that it was time for me to. As always thank you for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

_"Sky you have an appointment tomorrow at two o'clock." Darry tells her while standing up._

 _"With who? It better not be that stupid therapist again because if it is then I am not going and you can't make me." she says sternly and crosses her arms firmly over her chest._

 _"No it's not that therapist, it's a different type of therapist." he tells her._

 _"What type of therapist is it?" she asks him confused and I too give him a confused look because he never talked about Sky seeing another therapist with me._

 _"You're going to see a therapist that specializes in eating disorders." he tells her._

 **Sky's POV**

"Darry I don't have an eating problem. Why the hell do I have to go to that type of therapist?" I ask him really upset about this right now.

"Sky watch the language and you do have an eating problem. I mean we have to force you to even eat one meal, so you're going to see this therapist and that's final." Darry tells me sternly.

"No I'm not and you can't make me." I hiss and cross my arms firmly in front of my chest.

"Sky, I'm not negotiating with you on this. I don't care if you don't want to go, you're going. If I have to physically drag you out of this house and into the therapist's office downtown then I will." he tells me in a finality tone of voice.

"I don't have an eating problem though." I pout and turn my gaze to the floor.

"Peanut, I'm only trying to do what's best for you. I know that you don't think you have an eating problem, but you do. I mean Peanut you are nothing but skin and bones. I almost lost you to some idiot socs, I am not going to take the chance of almost losing you again because of your problems with eating. So you're going to go see that therapist tomorrow and she is going to talk to you about this and hopefully set you up with a daily eating plan and a weight goal because I know for a fact that you don't weigh what you're supposed to for a fifteen year old girl of your height." he tells me calmer while tilting my chin up so that I have to look at him.

"There are girls at school though that are as skinny as I am and they don't have an eating problem. So why do I have one if they don't?" I ask him.

"Sky, there are no girls at school that are as skinny as you are. Yes, I will admit that they are skinny but no where near how skinny you are." Pony tells me.

"I don't want to go though. I don't want to go and talk to some stupid therapist who is going to ask me why I stopped eating in the first place because I'm not going to tell her why." I say still pouting.

"You have to talk to her baby girl, if you don't then you are never going to get better." Soda tells me.

"I'm not going to though, I mean look at how long it took me to tell you guys about what was happening to me last year." I say.

"I know that you don't want to but can you at least try to talk to her, for me." he basically begs me.

"I'll try." I sigh.

"Thank you." he says and wraps me in his tight embrace.

"On one condition though." I say pulling back from him.

"What's that?" he asks me.

"Can all of you be in the room with me?" I ask them, well more like beg.

"Of course we will peanut, if that's what you want then that's what we'll do." Darry says wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissing the top of my head before heading out into the kitchen.

"Darry?" I ask.

"Yeah, peanut?" he asks turning back around to face me.

"What if I don't know why I stopped eating? How am I supposed to answer her questions if I don't really know the answers to them myself?" I ask him while fiddling with my hands nervously.

"Peanut, it's okay if you don't know the answers to the questions she's going to ask you. I have a feeling though that you know why you stopped eating but you've just pushed everything that happened to you last year to the very back of your mind and you don't want to remember it." he tells me while grabbing my hands so that I'll stop fiddling with them.

"Maybe you're right." I sigh looking up at him.

"Maybe? I'm always right." he says with a smirk.

"If you say so." I say while shaking my head back and forth at him.

"Do you have anymore questions or can I go make dinner now?" he asks me.

"No, you can go make dinner. I'm not g-"

"You're going to eat it Sky and that's final." he says in a fatherly tone of voice.

"Fine." I pout while crossing my arms over my chest and stomping over to the couch and plopping myself down on it next to Soda.

"Guys, come eat!" Darry hollers from the kitchen probably half an hour later.

"Coming!" I shout back, answering for Pony, Soda, and myself.

* * *

After dinner we all decided to spend the rest of the night relaxing in the living room and watching Mickey. Our relaxing night though is interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I ask lifting my head up off of Soda's lap.

"I don't know. It's not the gang because they never knock, they just barge in." Darry says getting up from his recliner and going to answer the door.

"Hello?" he asks opening the door but get's no response.

"Nobody's there. Wait, what's this?" he says bending down to pick something up before shutting the door again.

"What is it?" Soda asks curiously.

"I don't know, but it's for you Sky." he says handing me an envelope.

I look at him confused but take it from his hands anyways. I open it and pull out a little white notecard.

 _'We're watching you.'_ Is all the note says. Out of habit I turn around and open the shades to look out the window, looking around the front yard to see if I can see anybody out there.

"What's wrong baby girl?" Soda asks me while rubbing his hand up and down my back. I jump at the physical contact since I'm a little on edge right now after getting this note. I don't answer him and instead just hand him the note.

"Does this mean that he's back? Are they back? Is it going to happen to me all over again? Oh no, their back and their going to come after me again. I'm never going to be safe, their always going to be there. What if they never really left? What if they've just been here the whole time watching me and waiting for the right time to strike?" I ramble as my breathing starts to rapidly pick up.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down. Just breathe baby girl." Soda tells me calmly while dropping the note to the floor and wrapping his arms tightly around my waist, pulling me onto his lap and holding me to him. It doesn't seem to help though because I swear that my breathing picks up even more.

"Deep breaths baby girl, slow deep breaths. Come on, you can do this I've seen you do it hundreds of times now." he says softly while breathing how I'm supposed to. I close my eyes and use all my strength to focus on his breathing and nothing else. After a few tries I am finally able to match my breathing to his.

"Good job baby girl, I knew you could do it." he praises me while running his fingers through my hair soothingly and kissing the top of my head.

"Now peanut, the note doesn't mean anything. Those three socs are never going to come near you ever again. Their gone and they are never going to come back. This is just someone playing a cruel trick on you. Just ignore it because it doesn't mean anything. You're safe, I promise." Darry tells me softly but sternly.

"But-" I start but he cuts me off.

"But nothing. See there's not even a note anymore." he says picking up the note and ripping it into a bunch of tiny pieces before throwing it away.

"Okay. I'm sorry for freaking out." I sigh leaning back and snuggling into Soda's chest some more.

"Baby girl, you have nothing to apologize for. Anyone that went through what you did would have the same reaction if they got a note like that." Soda tells me softly and kisses the top of my head again.

"Can we go to bed now? I'm tired." I ask.

"Yeah, sure peanut." Darry says getting up from his recliner and stretching out his muscles. I get up off of Soda's lap and walk down the hall to the bathroom to get ready for bed. After I'm done I head into the bedroom and crawl into bed under the covers. Shortly after Pony and Soda come in with Darry following, Darry says goodnight to us and then heads to his room while shutting the door behind him. Pony and Soda climb in bed on either side of me and Soda drapes his arm over me, blanketing me in his safe and strong embrace. I close my eyes even though I don't want to because I know that I'm going to see those three faces in my dreams tonight, because I know that that note wasn't just someone trying to play a cruel trick on me.

 **I'm so sorry for the late update! I've just been really busy with schoolwork and trying to plan for the week that I have to teach in a preschool. Once again I am so sorry! Please review! I love hearing your comments and feedback on each chapter! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone! I'm hoping that you are all still sticking with my story even though I've taken forever to update. I'm sorry about that. I just haven't had anytime to write lately. I taught in a preschool this week so I had no free time because I had to plan activities for each day and make the things to go with them. My teaching week is over though so that means I'm back and I plan to update a new chapter once a week. Thank you for sticking with me through this long break in the story. I can't tell you how much that means to me! So without further ado here is chapter 7!**

* * *

I don't know where I am but I'm laying on something hard and cold. I sit up and a searing pain shoots straight through the back of my head. I bring my hand up and feel the back of it and when I pull my hand away there is blood on it. I look down at the rest of me and notice that I'm in nothing but my bra and boy shorts. My arms, stomach, legs, and chest are completely covered in thin long slashes and they are all bleeding. I mean it looks like I got attacked by a thousand cats all at once. What the hell happened to me? Actually, first, where the hell am I? I slowly stand up and turn in a slow circle taking in my surroundings and for once I don't know where I am. I must be in the middle of nowhere though because there is miles and miles of dirt roads but there's nothing else.

"Hello?" I call out.

"Hey slut." I hear that all too familiar voice say, the voice that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I slowly and unsteadily turn around as my whole body shakes with fear and I come face to face with Carter. Now I know what happened, he beat the shit out of me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him my voice trembling.

"It's nice to see you too slut, I've missed you." he says with that god awful smirk taking over his face.

"What do you want?" I ask him trying to make my voice sound a little less scared but it's not very convincing.

"I want what I always want, you." he says moving closer and circling me.

"I know that you idiot. I meant what am I doing here? Where the hell am I?" I ask my voice starting to sound a little bit stronger.

"You're where I am, where I had to go because you opened your big fat mouth and told your brothers about the fun we were having together." he growls in my ear from right behind me and shoves me forward.

"So you're in the middle of nowhere? That's not my fault, you wouldn't be if you and your idiot friends had never touched me in the first place." I hiss.

"But, you see, it is your fault. You ruined my life and now you're going to pay." he growls and kicks me in the back of my knee making it buckle and causing me to fall forward onto the cold hard ground.

"What are you going to do to me now?" I ask my voice sounding weak and vulnerable again. I am utterly terrified of him and I always will be.

"I'm not going to do anything to you, _yet._ When you're not expecting it though, just when you think that you are finally safe that's when I'll strike and this time you're not going to tell your brothers." he says smirking and kicks me in the ribs making me curl in on myself.

"Yeah, and why wouldn't I?" I choke out.

"I'll tell you why, because by the time you work up the courage to it will be too late." he growls bending down and yanking me up into a sitting position by my hair.

"Ow!" I cry out. All he does is laugh at me before punching me in the face.

"Let me go!" I shout at him using all my strength to pry his hand away from my hair.

"I forgot how much I missed this." he says smiling that evil and terrifying smile of his.

"Ow!" I cry again and kick my foot out and end up kicking him in the balls. He immediately let's me go. I jump up and run, I don't know what direction I'm running in all I know is that I can hear his thundering footsteps coming fast and furious behind me so I pick up my speed and continue to run for my life.

"Help me! Somebody help me!" I scream as loud as I can as I continue to run as fast as I can away from Carter.

 **Soda's POV**

"Stop it." I groan as I get kicked again. I roll over on my side pulling the covers with me only to get kicked again seconds later.

"Ugh." I groan finally sitting up and turning on the light.

"Pony move over." I tell him while shaking him slightly.

"What? What time is it?" he asks sleepily and confused while sitting up.

"It's four in the morning. You need to move over and stop kicking me." I tell him right before yawning.

"Soda I'm not kicking you, it's probably Sky." he says slightly annoyed that I woke him up for something he didn't do. I turn and look to my other side and sure enough there is Sky kicking her legs and moving her arms back and forth, it almost looks like she's running.

"Sky wake up." I tell her while shaking her.

"No, get away from me. Go away." she shouts as she starts kicking her legs even faster and stretches her arm out and hits me, like she's trying to push away whoever it is that's chasing her.

"Baby girl, you're okay. Nobody is chasing you, nobody is going to hurt you. Now wake up and open those pretty blue eyes of yours." I tell her and shake her again.

"No! Go away!" she screams jumping out of bed and backing herself into the corner of the room.

"Baby girl, calm down." I tell her softly while approaching her slowly and cautiously. Kind of like you would approach a wounded animal.

"Leave me alone." she tells me sternly.

"You're okay, just please calm down." I tell her softly once again.

"What's going on in here?" I hear Darry ask from the doorway.

"Sky had another nightmare." Pony tells him while I continue to try and coax Sky out of the corner.

"Leave me alone!" she shouts again and then bolts out the door, down the hallway and out the front door into the night street.

"Well don't just stand there let's go!" I shout at Darry and Pony as I bolt out the door after her and I hear them running behind me.

 **Sky's POV**

I'm having a really hard time telling the difference between reality and the imaginary scenario that my mind has come up with. The only thing that I know is 100% real is the fact that I'm running down the middle of the street. I don't know where I'm running, I just continue to run while completely ignoring the pain in my feet from the little pebbles digging into them as I run since I'm barefoot. As I'm running I catch sight of a big oak tree in the middle of a field and I run even faster towards it. Right as I reach the base of the tree I am tackled to the ground by someone.

"Get off of me! Go away! Somebody help me!" I scream while thrashing beneath the person and trying to push them off of me.

"Sky calm down. It's me, Pony." the person says calmly. I slowly pry my eyes open and sure enough Pony's green gray eyes are looking back at me.

"I'm sorry." I sigh sitting up as he gets off of me.

"Don't apologize for something you can't control. It's okay Sky." he says and wraps his arm around me, pulling me to him.

"Sky! Are you okay?" Soda asks me with concern dripping from his voice as he kneels down in front of me and pulls me into his arms.

"Soda I'm fine, I'm okay." I tell him.

"Don't you ever do that to me again. You scared me to death." he tells me sternly while pulling back so that he can look at me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what was real and what wasn't so I just ran like I did in my nightmare." I apologize to him as I feel moisture hit my cheeks.

"It's okay baby girl, I'm just glad that you're safe." he tells me while reaching his hands up and wiping away my tears.

"Sky, I thought we talked about you not running away anymore?" Darry asks me while sitting down next to Soda although the tone of his voice makes it sound like he's scolding me.

"I'm sorry. I thought that you were going to have to learn to keep up with me though?" I counter.

"Just don't ever scare me like that again." he tells me sternly and then mumbles under his breath "Smart ass."

"I heard that." I say and he just smirks at me.

"Who were you running away from anyways Sky?" Pony asks me.

"Carter." I tell them quietly.

"I'm sorry baby girl." Soda apologizes and kisses the top of my head.

"Stop saying you're sorry for something that you didn't cause." I tell him sternly for probably the millionth time.

"I know baby girl but it's the only thing that I can think of to say to you." he says sadly.

"How about instead of saying anything you just hug me or hold me. That would make me feel better more than anything you could come up with to say to me." I tell him.

"Okay." he says while nodding his head up and down and wrapping his arms tighter around me.

"Well the important thing is that you're safe and not hurt." Darry says and I swear I hear him sigh in relief.

"Can we go home now? I'm cold and my feet hurt." I ask as the pain in my feet finally starts to get to me.

"Yeah, let's go. I'll look over your feet when we get home Sky." Darry says while standing up.

"Yeah, you're going to have to because they're bleeding Darry." Pony points out while looking at the bottom of my foot.

"Whoops." I say sheepishly as Soda stands up with me in his arms and then we all start walking home.

"Maybe you should sleep with shoes on from now on Sky, just in case you decide to run away in the middle of the night again. That way you won't cut up the bottom of your feet." Pony says with a smirk as we walk through the door.

"Haha, you're so funny." I say while sticking my tongue out at him. Soda then carries me into the bathroom, setting me down on the sink counter as Darry pulls out the first aid kit. After taking out what he needs to he lifts up my left foot and starts cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide before putting a band aid on it and then repeating the same process with the right one.

"Okay peanut, you're all set now." he says when he's done and has put the first aid kit away. He then kisses my forehead before lifting me up off the counter and setting me back on my feet.

"Thanks Darry." I thank him and then head out into the living room and lay down on the couch with my head on Soda's lap and my feet across Pony's. Even though it's barely six in the morning we're all too awake to go back to bed so we just sit out in the living room watching some stupid paid program because it's the only thing that's on right now. After awhile the constant soothing movement of Soda's fingers running through my hair puts me to sleep and the last thing I remember is someone putting a blanket over me and Soda telling me that he loves me and kissing the top of my head.

 **As always please follow, favorite, and review! I love hearing your feedback and comments on each chapter, it makes my day every time I get a new review. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Darry's POV**

Well today's the day, Sky has her appointment with the therapist that deals with eating disorders. To say she's not happy about it is an understatement. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to drag her out of the house and have Soda hold her down in the truck on the way there so that she can't hop out of it. She's done that before, she hopped out of the moving truck when we took her to the first therapist to help her get through what she went through last year. Ugh, I don't want to get out of bed and face what's going to be a stressful day since I'm going to be dealing with an angry and grumpy Sky all day. But, I guess I have to. So I throw the covers off me and grab some clothes and a towel and go to the bathroom to get a quick shower in.

After I'm done getting ready I head out into the living room and see that Pony and Soda are already up and ready for the day.

"Sky's not up yet?" I ask them.

"Nope, I'm letting her sleep for another half an hour in hopes that she won't be as grumpy about today since I let her sleep longer." Soda tells me.

"Okay, but she can't sleep any longer then that or we'll be late for her appointment." I say.

"I know, I won't let her." he says.

Half an hour later I get up from my recliner and head down the hall and into Sky's bedroom to wake her up.

"Peanut, it's time to get up." I tell her softly while sitting down on the bed and shaking her slightly.

"5 more minutes." she groans pulling the covers over her head and snuggling into them some more.

"No, we already let you sleep for an extra half an hour. It's time to get up or we'll be late for your appointment." I tell her and shake her again while pulling the covers back somewhat.

"I'm not going." she says sternly while opening her eyes and putting a huge pout on her face.

"You don't have a choice, you're going whether you like it or not." I tell her sternly.

"No, I'm not and you can't make me." she says defiantly.

"Sky you're going and that's final. Now get up and get ready, we have to leave in 20 minutes." I tell her and pull the covers completely off of her.

"I hate you." she hisses at me and get's out of bed, stomping her way into the bathroom.

"No you don't. Trust me Sky, you'll thank me in the long run for making you go to this appointment." I tell her.

"Yes, I do and no I won't." she spits as I walk out of her room and back into the living room.

"Did you get her up?" Soda asks me when I come back into the room and take a seat in my recliner.

"Yeah, I did. She's not happy at all though, I don't think letting her sleep longer made her mood any better." I tell him.

"Well we all knew that she was going to be in a grumpy mood today. We're just going to have to deal with it and remember that we're doing this for her own good." Pony says.

"Yeah, I know. She doesn't see it that way though. She told me that she hates me." I say.

"You know she doesn't mean it, she's just upset right now, she'll get over it." Soda tells me reassuringly.

"I know she doesn't, it still hurts a little bit though." I say.

"I know, we've all been in the same boat as you are right now with Sky." Pony says.

"Yeah, that's true. She's been furious with all of us at least once." I say.

"Once? More like a bunch of times." Soda says with a chuckle.

"Okay, I'm ready." Sky says grumpily when she comes into the room.

"We'll leave in 10 minutes." I tell her.

"Okay, that gives me time to weigh myself then." she says and heads for the bathroom.

"Sky, you're not going to weigh yourself again." I tell her sternly while following her and blocking her path.

"Yes, I am. I want to see where I am." she says trying to move around me but I don't let her.

"Darry, it might actually be a good idea for her to step on the scale so that we know how much she weighs right now and we can tell the therapist when we get there." Soda suggests coming over to us.

I take a minute to think it over before finally giving in to his suggestion and saying, "Yeah, okay."

"Good, now move." Sky tells me so I move out of her way and then follow her into the bathroom and Soda follows too.

"How much does she weigh Darry?" Soda asks me once Sky's stepped on the scale and I'm looking down at it.

"Oh my god. Sky how could you let yourself get to this little weight?" I ask her shocked as I look at the number.

"What? How much does she weigh?" he asks again.

"She weighs 75 pounds." I tell him.

"Sky, how the hell could you do that? You realize that you could get really sick and possibly die from only weighing that much?" Soda asks her shocked and with disapproval written all over his face.

"I don't see the problem with my weight, I think it's fine." Sky says truly believing that she doesn't have a serious problem.

"See, and that's exactly why you have an appointment with this therapist today, because you don't see that what you're doing and how much you weigh is very bad for your health and can cause permanent damage to your body." I tell her.

"Whatever." she says dismissing my comment and leaving the bathroom and going back out into the living room.

"Come on Pony, let's go." I say as I basically drag Sky out the door and him and Soda follow behind us. After I get Sky in the car, sitting in between Pony and Soda so that she can't get out I hop in the driver's seat and we start on our way downtown to the therapist's office. When we reach the therapist's office I drive around and park out in back of the building.

"I'm not going in there." Sky says pouting and with her arms crossed firmly over her chest after I've shut the car off.

"Yes, you are. Now come on let's go, we're going to be late." I tell her and you can hear how annoyed I am with her already in my voice.

"No, I don't want to talk to some stupid therapist about the problems you guys say I have, which I have none of." she says still pouting.

"Baby girl, look at me." Soda tells her softly and she immediately looks at him. Soda's always had that ability to make Sky listen to him since they have such a strong bond and are so close to each other. I mean Sky is close with Pony and I too but there is just a special connection that she has had with Soda since the day she was brought home from the hospital that she just doesn't have with Pony and I. I remember when Sky was 2 and Soda was 6 and she saw him leave for school for the first time. She was a complete mess, she was in hysterics and sobbing her eyes out. She didn't want him to go and she was too little to understand why he had to. It was the first time that they were apart since the day she was brought home. It broke my heart seeing her like that and it basically shattered Soda's, I mean seeing her crying like that made him cry and feel awful. When we finally walked out the door you could hear Sky's cries for Soda to come back, I had to carry him onto the bus and comfort him on the way to school, telling him that she'll be fine and that he would see her in a couple hours. That day was the first time that any of us heard Sky cry, she never cried as an infant and it broke all of our hearts when she finally did for the first time. I guess that's why it took her so long to tell us what was happening to her last year, she really truly believed that we would be taken away from her. Just like she believed that Soda was never going to come back that day he left for school.

"Baby girl, I know that you don't want to do this but you need to. You have a problem and I know that you don't think you do, but you do and it needs to be taken care of. I need you to do this for me, I need you to get better so that I don't have to worry about losing you because you won't eat enough. So please, just go in and talk to the therapist. For me?" he tells her softly.

"Okay, but you guys have to be in there with me and you have to hold me." she sighs finally giving in.

"Thank you and of course I will." he tells her and kisses the top of her head.

"Now come on, let's go in there and go to your appointment." I tell her and get out of the car. Sky, Soda, and Pony all follow suit and we walk into the building, Sky holding Soda's hands tightly in hers the whole way.

"Hi, we're here for an appointment with Dr. Emily." I tell the woman at the front desk.

"Okay, what's the patient's name?" she asks.

"Skyler Curtis." I tell her.

"Okay, you guys can have a seat, Dr. Emily will be out to get you in a few minutes." she says.

"Thank you." I say and then we all go over and take seats in the waiting area. Sky obviously sits on Soda's lap, she's not going to let any of us out of her sight for this whole appointment, and she's definitely not going to let Soda leave her side.

"Skyler Curtis?" a blonde woman asks coming out into the waiting area.

"Yes?" Sky asks.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Emily. Why don't you come out back to my office and we can start getting to know each other." Dr. Emily says.

"Only if my brothers can come with me." Sky says not moving from her spot on Soda's lap.

"If you want them there for emotional support then of course they can come with you." Dr. Emily tells her with a smile on her face.

"Okay, let's get this over with then." Sky says slightly annoyed but gets off of Soda's lap anyways and follows Dr. Emily out back, not once letting go of Soda's hand.

Once out back Soda takes a seat in the chair next to Dr. Emily and Sky sits on his lap and wraps his arms around her waist while Pony and I take a seat on the couch. I take a deep breath while waiting for Dr. Emily to say or ask Sky something.

"So Sky, tell me something about yourself." Dr. Emily tells her.

Here we go, let the appointment begin.

 **Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

_"Okay, let's get this over with then." Sky says slightly annoyed but gets off of Soda's lap anyways and follows Dr. Emily out back, not once letting go of Soda's hand._

 _Once out back Soda takes a seat in the chair next to Dr. Emily and Sky sits on his lap and wraps his arms around her waist while Pony and I take a seat on the couch. I take a deep breath while waiting for Dr. Emily to say or ask Sky something._

 _"So Sky, tell me something about yourself." Dr. Emily tells her._

 _Here we go, let the appointment begin._

 **Sky's POV**

"Well, I'm 15 years old and I live with my three older brothers. Darry who is our legal guardian and Soda and Pony." I tell her.

"What about your parents, do you live with them?" Dr. Emily asks.

"Um, no we don't. They died in a car crash four years ago." I tell her sadly and Soda squeezes my hand to reassure me that he's here for me.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss." she says apologetically for even asking.

"It's okay." I tell her.

"So, tell me something else about yourself. What do you like to do?" she asks changing the subject.

"Um, I like to hang out with my brothers and the gang. I also like to read a lot, I guess I get that from my older brother Pony. He's pretty much a book nerd." I tell her with a smile on my face.

"Sounds like your family is very important to you." she says smiling back at me.

"Yeah, they are. I don't know what I would do without them." I say and feel Soda kiss the top of my head.

"So Sky, tell me what brought you here today." she says.

"My brothers think that I have an eating problem so they made me come and see you." I tell her.

"Do you think that you have an eating problem?" she asks while writing something down on her notepad.

"No, I don't." I tell her simply.

"Then why do you think your brothers think that you do?" she asks.

"I think it's because even though I eat food everyday I don't eat a lot of it." I tell her.

"Well, how much do you think you eat in a day?" she asks.

"I don't know." I say while shrugging my shoulders.

"Well, think about it. Roughly how much do you think you eat?" she asks me again.

"Um, well I don't eat breakfast I just have a glass of chocolate milk. I have an apple or some other type of fruit for lunch and I eat probably only half of whatever my brothers make for dinner each night." I tell her while watching her write down everything that I'm saying.

"That's not a lot of food." she tells me while giving me a slightly disappointed look.

"I guess you're right, but it's enough so that I'm not starving myself." I tell her.

"Sky, I know that you don't really believe that. You just don't want to face the fact that you actually have a real serious problem with eating." she tells me while giving me a knowing look.

I sit there just starring at her for a few minutes, thinking over what she just said in my head before saying anything else.

"Okay, maybe you're right. It's just that after I went through what I did last year and after what I was forced to do multiple times I didn't feel like eating anymore and I still don't. I mean the thought of just putting any type of food in my mouth makes me sick to my stomach, but I eat the little amount that I do because I don't want to worry my brothers. Even though clearly that hasn't been working since I'm here today talking with you." I tell her while avoiding eye contact with her.

"What happened to you last year?" she asks.

"Um, I-I-I was..." I start but trail off not being able to say it out loud to some stranger, so instead I turn my head and hide my face in the crook of Soda's neck. He kisses the top of my head while rubbing his hand soothingly up and down my back.

"She was beaten and raped repeatedly by three socs for a whole year." Soda tells her, answering her for me.

"Oh my gosh. I am so sorry Sky, I should've never brought it up but I kind of had to so that I can get to the root of your problem." she apologizes to me.

"It's okay." I tell her while wiping away my tears and turning back around to face her.

"I'm sorry for asking you this but I need to know what they did to you that was so horrible that it made you want to stop eating. So, what did they do?" she asks.

I take a couple deep breaths before letting out a loud sigh.

"The guy that was the leader of their group, the one that raped me first. He um, before he would rape me he would force my mouth open and put his um, manhood in my mouth." I tell her and I can feel my face heating up just talking about the awful memory.

"He what!?" Darry exclaims while looking at me with a look that could kill on his face but his eyes betray that anger because they are filled with sadness.

"After that I didn't want to put anything in my mouth ever again, whether it was food or anything else. I mean I have always bit my nails but I couldn't even do that anymore because it disgusted me." I tell her.

"I'm so sorry." she apologizes for probably the fourth time since we started talking.

"Baby girl why didn't you tell us about this?" Soda asks me while turning me so that I have to face him.

"I didn't want to, it was too embarrassing to talk about the fact that he did that to me, that I let him do that to me." I tell him.

"I love you baby girl." he says while hugging me tight instead of apologizing to me. He must've remembered what I told him about apologizing to me about this stuff.

"Sky, I think it's best that you go home now and spend some time with your brothers. But, I do want you to do something for me." she says so I turn back around to face her.

"Okay. What do you want me to do?" I ask.

"I'm going to give you this log book and everyday for the next two weeks I want you to write down everything that you eat. I also want you to eat at least two meals a day and eat some snacks in between. If you forget to write something down then have your brothers do it for you. I know that this is going to be something hard for you but I need you to do it. If you don't then you are going to get really sick and I don't want to see that happen. If you don't like putting the food in your mouth then maybe for some meals make a fruit smoothie to go with it so that it will counter balance the different textures. One more thing I want you to do for me is when you get home write down at the top of the first page in your log book how much you weigh today and at the end of two weeks before you come and see me I want you to write down how much you weigh on the day of your appointment." she explains while looking at me and handing me a log book before making eye contact with all of my brothers.

"Okay, I can give it a try. I'm nervous about it and my stomach is already churning at just the thought of eating a full meal, but I think that I can do it." I tell her.

"I know you can peanut, you can do anything." Darry tells me with a smile on his face.

"Okay, then I guess we're done here for today. I will see you in two weeks Sky and when I do I hope to see an improvement in your eating habits based on your log book. Have a good rest of your day." she tells me while standing up and shaking my hand. After she leaves the room I stand up taking Soda's hand in mine and pulling him up with me.

"You did such a good job baby girl, I am so proud of you." Soda praises me while wrapping me in a tight hug.

"I'm proud of you too peanut, thank you for doing this and talking to her. I really think that this will help you in the long run." Darry tells me while wrapping me in a hug of his own after Soda let's me go.

"I hope it will too." I say with a small smile on my face.

"Ready to go home baby girl?" Soda asks me.

"Yeah, let's go. Here Pony, you can carry this." I tell him while handing him my log book.

"Why do I have to carry it?" he asks slightly annoyed while taking it from my hands.

"You can either carry that or you can give me a piggy back ride out to the car. Which one will it be?" I ask him with my hands on my hips.

"I'll carry the book." he says.

"Okay, then Soda you can give me a piggy back ride." I say while hopping on his back.

"Whatever you want baby girl." he says while grabbing my legs to hold me up.

"Do we want to gather up the gang on our way home and then go to the lot to toss around the football?" Darry asks as we're walking out the building and towards the truck.

"Yeah, that would be so much fun!" I say already excited as I hop up into the truck, once again taking my seat next to Darry in the middle.

"Let's go then." he says while putting the truck in drive and heading in the direction of Johnny's house. Even though the day started off on a sour note, I'm glad that it's going to end on a good one. I'm also glad that I got to talk with Dr. Emily and that she didn't judge me for my reasons behind not wanting to eat. I think things are finally starting to look up for me. I'm just hoping that it stays that way and continues to do so. Although, I just have this gut feeling that it's not going to.

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you all for sticking with my story even though it is taking me longer to update then I expected it to but my college classes and schoolwork have been getting in the way of my time to write. I'm trying my hardest though to update on a weekly basis but I know that that won't always happen. Once again thank you for sticking with me and I promise that what I have planned for this story will be worth the wait! As always please review, follow, and favorite!**


	10. Chapter 10

We passed around the football at the lot for probably an hour or two before some of us started getting hungry. By some of us I mean everyone except for me. So we all hopped in the truck and Darry drove us home.

"What do you want for dinner?" Darry asks when we get home.

"Anything, I'm starving." Two-bit says dramatically.

"I wasn't asking you idiot, I was asking Sky. What do you want for dinner Sky?" Darry asks me again.

"I don't want anything, I'm not hungry." I tell him.

"Sky, you have to eat something. Remember what Dr. Emily said this afternoon." he reminds me.

"I know but I'm still not hungry." I repeat.

"I know you're not, but you have to eat something. How about spaghetti?" he suggests.

"Okay, I'll try it." I tell him while nodding my head slightly. He just smiles at me before disappearing into the kitchen to start making dinner.

"You're going to at least try to eat some of it baby girl, right?" Soda asks me while turning my face so that I have to look at him.

"Yeah, I'll try." I tell him.

"Good." he says smiling at me and kissing my forehead.

* * *

Soon enough dinner is ready and Darry is calling us all out to the dining room. I get up as slowly as possible while walking as slowly as possible into the dining room, already dreading this.

"Sky stop walking so slow and get out here before your food gets cold." Darry tells me slightly annoyed.

"I'm coming." I say before sitting down in my chair at the table next to Soda. At first I just sit there pushing the spaghetti around on my plate while everyone else is eating.

"Baby girl, take a bite of it." Soda tells me while nudging my arm with his elbow.

"I know I said I would, but I don't think I can." I tell him while continuing to push it around the plate.

"I need you to take at least five bites of spaghetti and you're not leaving the table until you do." Darry tells me sternly while giving me a look meaning that he's not messing around.

"Fine." I sigh before twirling as little spaghetti as possible on my fork and then slowly bring it up to my mouth, putting the fork in my mouth and eating all of the spaghetti on it. I continue to do this, counting the number of bites in my head until I have taken five. Surprisingly though I decide to take five more than what Darry is requiring me to.

"All done?" Soda asks me when I put my fork down and push the half empty plate away from me.

"Yeah, I can't eat anymore." I tell him.

"You did good peanut." Darry praises me.

"Now can someone get that out of my sight? I can't look at it anymore or I think I'll throw up." I ask while looking anywhere but at the plate in front of me.

"Sure Sky." Pony says while getting up and clearing all of the plates off of the table before disappearing into the kitchen to do the dishes.

"I'm going to go for a walk." I say while getting up and leaving the table.

"Don't go too far." Soda tells me as I'm walking out the door.

"I won't." I say before letting the door slam shut behind me. I stuff my hands in my pockets and start walking down the street in no particular direction.

 **Darry's POV**

"Hey, Dal?" I ask after Sky's left.

"Yeah?" he asks coming into the living room from the kitchen.

"Can you go follow her? After the note she got a few nights ago I'm not too keen on her being out this late by herself." I ask him.

"Wait, who did she get a note from?" he asks and I can see anger already brewing behind his somewhat cold eyes.

"It was just some dumb soc trying to scare her." I tell him.

"Is that what you think or are you hoping that that's all it is?" he asks.

"I'm hoping that it's just some stupid socs trying to scare her." I tell him although I know that I don't really believe that.

"What did Sky think about it?" he asks.

"She freaked out. Like full blown on panic attack out of nowhere, I thought she was going to pass out she stressed herself out so fast." Soda says coming into the room and giving his input.

"So in other words she doesn't think that it's just someone trying to scare her." he says.

"Yeah, she thinks that they never left and that they've just been in hiding and waiting for the right time to strike." I tell him.

"Do you think she's right?" he asks.

"I don't know what to think right now." I sigh.

"Come on Darry, what's your gut telling you? Do you think this is just a scare tactic or is it a legitimate threat from those three creeps?" he asks me.

"I believe that the three of them high tailed it out of town after the rumble last year. My gut though is telling me that something bad is going to happen soon and Sky is going to be directly in the center of it." I tell him.

"If that's what your gut is saying then don't just ignore it. Maybe if some of us had acted on our gut feelings last year then maybe Sky wouldn't have gone through any or as much as she did. Now, I'm going to go catch up to her." he says heading for the door.

"Make sure you don't let her see you." I tell him.

"Don't worry, I won't. This isn't the first time that I've followed her when she went on a walk Dar." he tells me with a smirk before disappearing out the door and into the dimly lit street.

 **Back to Sky's POV**

As I continue to walk I notice that I'm heading in the direction of a park, but up until now I didn't realize that I'm on the wrong side of town. I'm in the socs territory. I turn around and start walking back to the other side of town as quickly as possible, not wanting to be caught by any socs.

"What are you doing on our side of town greaser?" I hear a soc say from directly behind me. I don't turn around and instead just continue to walk away, completely ignoring him.

"Where do you think your going greaser?" the soc hisses from behind me and then I'm yanked back roughly by my hair.

"Ow!" I cry while trying to pry his hand off of my hair.

"Oh look guys, it's the girl who forced Carter, Seth, and Cole out of town because she cried rape." he taunts as him and his friend start laughing.

"Just leave me alone." I hiss at them while bringing my knee up and kneeing the guy that has a grip on my hair in the crotch, making him let go and giving me the chance to run away.

"Get her!" I hear one of them shout and then I hear the sound of multiple thundering footsteps behind me. Man, I must be out of shape because it seems like in a matter of seconds they've caught up to me and I'm on the ground flat on my back with one of them on top of me.

"Get off of me!" I growl while squirming beneath him.

"Why? We're going to have some fun." he smirks as his buddy hands him a blade.

"No!" I scream while continuing to struggle to get him off of me. He just laughs at me before opening the blade and slicing a gash across my cheek.

"Ow!" I cry as my cheek continues to burn with pain from where he cut me.

 **Dally's POV**

I saw Sky get approached by two socs but I wasn't quick enough to get to her before she took off running and that's when I lost sight of her. Man, where did you go Sky? Right after I think that thought I hear the blood curdling scream that I'd know anywhere because it can only belong to one person, Sky. I take off running in the direction of the scream and shortly come face to face with two socs surrounding Sky. She's on the ground and a soc is on top of her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to her!?" I growl at them, making the one not on top of her turn around and face me.

"Stay out of this greaser." he hisses at me before turning back around to watch what his buddy is doing to Sky.

"Get the hell off of her!" I growl before charging forward and yanking the one on top of her off of her and throwing him to the ground.

"You bastard." I hear him hiss but I don't pay attention to him and instead see if Sky's okay.

"Sky, are you okay?" I ask her while helping her sit up and looking her over.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she says lying through her teeth because she is obviously not fine, I mean anyone with eyes can see that. She has a cut on her cheek and her left arm is bleeding and her shirt is cut open and there is a gash on her chest right under the permanent scar on her neck that she got from the rumble last year.

"No, you're not." I tell her. I go to pick her up so I can take her home but I'm yanked back by some soc and next thing I know I'm being punched in the face.

 **Back to Sky's POV**

"Dally!" I shriek. I then push myself up onto my feet and jump on the back of the other soc.

"Get off of me you bitch." he shouts at me while trying to get me off of him but it doesn't work. He almost throws me off of him so I jump off his back and punch him in the face the minute he turns around to face me. Next thing I know we're in an all out fight. I'm surprised that I can even fight since my arm is basically gushing blood and I can see a pool of it gathering on the ground.

"Get off of me!" I growl at him while trying to push him off of me so he'll stop punching me.

"You never should have opened your mouth last year bitch. Make sure you watch your back because he's going to come back soon. You know who he's coming for?" he asks before punching me again.

"Who's coming back?" I ask him. I'm pretty sure I already know the answer though but I don't want to believe it.

"Carter is and he's coming back for you. Although this time you're not going to get away from him and your brothers and friends won't be able to save you either. You belong to him and now after all this time he's coming back to get what's his. He's coming to get you." he tells me. No, he can't come back, he just can't. I can't go through that again.

"What do you mean that he's coming back for me?" I ask him right before he punches me again.

"Let's just say that the next time he leaves this town, he won't be leaving alone. He'll have a traveling buddy, a pretty blonde haired, blue eyed greaser girl." he says with a huge smirk forming on his face.

"I'm not going anywhere with him whether he comes back here or not." I hiss at him and then spit in his face.

"You can think that all you want little girl but you will be leaving this town forever soon, so enjoy the time you have left here." he says while wiping the spit off his face. He then punches me in the face again.

"Who are you anyways and how do you know all of this? How do you even know who I am?" I ask him.

"You don't recognize me? I mean you should since I look so much like Carter." he asks me. I once heard that Carter had a little brother that was like three years younger than him. This can't be him. Can it?

"Connor? You're Connor Evans aren't you?" I ask him.

"In the flesh bitch. So watch your back cause my brother's coming back to town soon. See you around." he hisses and then instead of him getting off of me he is yanked off of me by none other then Dally.

"Get out of here you idiot socs." Dally growls at them as they run away.

"Are you okay Sky?" he asks me while pulling me up into a sitting position and looking me over.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I tell him.

"No, you're not. You look like you've just seen a ghost. What did that soc say to you?" he asks.

"Nothing." I tell him.

"You're lying. Come on, tell me." he pushes.

"He was just trying to scare me that's all." I tell him simply.

"Sky, you promised that you would tell us everything from now on." he reminds me.

"Fine I'll tell you. But can I do it at home? So I don't have to tell the same story twice." I ask him.

"Yeah. Now, come on, let's get you home. You look like shit." he tells me with his famous Dally smirk.

"Yeah, and you don't look much better." I tell him with a smirk of my own.

"Haha, you're so funny. Let's get you home." he says while scooping me up into his arms and carrying me the whole way home.

 **Sorry for another late update. But the semester is finally over and I am officially on summer break which means I can write more and update for often! Yay! Tomorrow's my birthday! I turn 21 so I'm going out to a bar with some friends and then this weekend I'm going away with some other friends. It's going to be a lot of fun! This means that I probably won't update again until the middle or end of next week since I'm going to be away. Thank you all for sticking with me though! As always please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey Dally?" I ask him as we're walking home.

"Yeah, short stuff?" he asks with a smirk, turning his head to face me.

"How did you know that I was in trouble? I thought that you were still at the house?" I ask him confused.

"I was but then I needed some air so I decided to go for a walk." he tells me.

"By 'decided' you mean that Darry told you to follow me. Right?" I ask him while putting air quotes around the word decided.

"Yeah, he did short stuff." he tells me.

"Why? Doesn't he trust me enough to go for a walk by myself by now?" I ask him somewhat hurt that Darry still sees me as a little kid.

"No Sky, it's not that. Darry and your brothers trust you completely. Darry was just worried about you and wanted to be on the safe side so he asked me to follow you that's all." he tries to reassure me.

"Why was he worried about me?" I ask.

"The same reason why you're constantly on edge right now." he says while looking at me with a knowing look.

"Oh, the note I got." I sigh now knowing exactly why Darry had him follow me.

"Yeah, the note. Do you really think that they never left?" he asks me.

"No, I know that they left." I tell him simply.

"If you know that they left, then why are you so on edge after getting some stupid note?" he asks confused.

"I'm freaked out because it wasn't just some stupid note." I tell him starting to get frustrated. I'm not really though, I'm scared and after last year everyone knows how I get when I get scared. My walls go up and angry Sky comes out.

"But they left. So how-"

"Yes, they left but their coming back." I hiss at him before jumping out of his arms and running up the porch steps and into the house.

"Hey Sky, how was your walk?" Pony asks when I come through the door.

"It was fine." I say simply.

"Baby girl, what the hell happened to you?" Soda asks me alarmed when he comes into the room.

"I had a run in with two socs." I tell him.

"Dally, I thought I told you to follow her? How could you let this happen to her?" Darry asks him outraged.

"I'm sorry Dar-"

"Darry, don't blame him, it wasn't his fault. If I hadn't have ran away from the socs then he probably would've stopped them but I ran away from them and that's when he lost sight of me I'm guessing. So if anyone's to blame it's me." I tell him while cutting Dally off in the process.

"Sky, none of this is your fault. It's those stupid socs and nobody else's." Dally tells me while draping his arm across my shoulders.

"I know, but if I hadn't have walked into that side of town in the first place then none of this would've happened." I say still blaming myself.

"Why were you in their side of town Sky?" Pony asks.

"I wasn't going there, I just wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and by the time I realized where I was, I was already on their side of town." I tell them.

"Well, it's a good thing I had Dally follow you then." Darry says.

"So, you were lying to me then." I say.

"What do you mean Sky?" he asks me confused.

"You told me when I first got that note that it meant nothing and that it was just some stupid soc trying to scare me. If you really thought that then you wouldn't have had Dally follow me tonight. You do think that it means something. Don't you?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I do Sky. I don't know what but I don't think that it means nothing." he sighs while running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Well, I know what it means." I mumble under my breath.

"You do?" Soda asks me. Damnit, I was hoping that none of them would hear me.

"Yeah." I sigh.

"Well, tell us baby girl." he tells me while more like demands.

"No." I say somewhat sternly.

"Sky, you promised me that you would tell all of us when we got home since I didn't make you tell me earlier." Dally reminds me while nudging my shoulder.

"Fine. Can someone help me clean up first? I'm kind of a bleeding mess and I'm starting to feel light headed." I ask and sway somewhat into Dally.

"Yeah, come on peanut, let's go clean you up." Darry says while coming over to me. He bends down in front of me and scoops me up into his arms before carrying me into the bathroom. Once in there he sets me down on the counter before pulling out the first aid kit and tending to my wounds.

"Do you have to put a wrap on it?" I ask pulling back away from the wrap he just pulled out of the kit.

"Yes, I do peanut. Even though it doesn't look that deep I don't want to take any chances of it getting infected. Plus, it's directly below your scar from last year and that makes me a little nervous. So please just let me put the wrap on." he pleads with me.

"Fine." I sigh while scooting closer to him and allowing him to wrap it around my neck.

"Okay, you're all done now peanut." he says after he's disinfected and bandaged all of my wounds.

"Thank you." I thank him while hopping off the counter and heading out the door.

"Okay Sky, tell us what the note means." Darry says once we're all in the living room and everyone is sitting around me waiting for my explanation.

"One of the socs I ran into tonight was a friend of Carter's." I start.

"That bastard still has friends in this town?" Two-bit hisses.

"Oh, did I say friend? I meant that I ran into his little brother." I clarify for them.

"He has a brother? I didn't know that." Pony asks confused.

"I had heard someone mention awhile back that he did but I wasn't sure, I am now after tonight. His name is Connor, I think he's a junior or maybe a senior now. Anyways the note came from him." I explain.

"Why would he give you a note like that if he had nothing to do with what happened last year?" Soda asks confused.

"He blames me for his brother having to leave town. So, he's doing Carter's dirty work for him. Which means making sure that I'm scared shitless and warning me to watch my back." I tell them.

"Okay, I get why that would scare you tonight but he had to have told you more than that tonight to get that reaction out of you. What else did he tell you Sky?" Dally asks knowing that there is more to the story then what I am telling them.

"He told me that Carter's coming back to town, _soon_." I tell them.

"That bastard has the nerve to come back to this town after he was basically exiled from it?" Pony asks somewhat shocked.

"You're kidding right? Of course he does. That guy had the nerve and the balls to rape a thirteen year old last year, he's not scared of anything or anyone." I scoff.

"Just Carter or all of them?" Soda asks.

"He said just Carter." I tell him.

"How can you be so sure that his brother is telling you the truth? What if he's not coming back and his kid brother is just trying to scare you?" Steve asks.

"I don't know if he is. But, I've had this gut feeling in the pit of my stomach since that night I got the note that something bad is going to happen to me soon, and after tonight I know that my gut feeling is right." I say.

"I don't want to scare you baby girl, but I don't want to lie to you either. I've had the same feeling in the pit of my stomach as you ever since you got that note." Soda tells me.

"Thank you for not lying to me." I say while snuggling into his side.

"From now on Sky I don't want you going anywhere by yourself." Darry tells me sternly.

"No, you can't do that." I tell him.

"Sky-"

"You guys never let me out of your sight for years and last year the one time you did was when they attacked me. How about someone follows me whenever I go for a walk by myself or something like that? That way someone is always with me but they just can't be seen." I suggest instead.

"Deal." he agrees while nodding his head at me.

"Can I go take shower now? I'm tired and I want to go to bed." I ask while standing up and yawning.

"Yeah, go ahead baby girl. Pony and I will be in soon." Soda tells me.

"Okay." I say through a yawn while walking down the hallway and into the bathroom before shutting the door behind me.

 **Soda's POV**

"So, the bastard is coming back to town. What are we going to do?" Dally asks after Sky's left the room.

"We're going to keep Sky safe at all costs." I say protectively. He hurt my baby sister for over a year, it will be over my dead body before I let him do that again.

"Why do you think he's coming back anyways? I mean we all know what he did to her now, is he really that stupid to think that he'll be able to do anything like that to her again?" Two-bit asks.

"He's coming back to get what belongs to him, _me._ Connor said that this time when he leaves town again he's not going to be leaving by himself, he's going to have a pretty blonde haired, blue eyed greaser girl as a traveling buddy. His words not mine." Sky shouts from the hallway and then shuts the bathroom door again.

"I swear that girl has sonar hearing, she hears everything whether she's in the room or not." Pony says.

"She get's it from Dally, I mean he's the same exact way." I say with a smirk.

"I told you, she learns from the best." Dally says with his famous Dally smirk.

"Yeah, yeah." Darry scoffs.

"So we're all in agreement? We have to keep Sky safe at all costs." I ask.

"Yup." everyone agrees.

"Okay guys, we're going to go to bed. You're all welcome to crash here tonight." Darry says while standing up from his recliner and motioning for Pony and I to follow him.

"Night guys." I say as Pony and I follow Darry down the hallway.

"Sky's already in bed and she's half asleep. Sleep well guys, cross your fingers that she can get through the night without a nightmare." he says.

"We do every night." I say before heading into the room with Pony behind me while he goes down the hall to his.

"Pepsi, I'm cold." Sky whines from her spot in bed.

"I'm coming baby girl just wait a minute." I tell her while pulling the covers back and sliding in bed next to her. She immediately moves over as close as she can get to me and rests her head on my chest.

"Better?" I ask her as I wrap my arm around her.

"Mhmm." she sighs.

"Night Pone." I tell him.

"Night." he says back before yawning loudly.

"I love you baby girl." I tell her and kiss the top of her head.

"Love you too." she sighs before copying Pony and yawning loudly.

God, I don't know if you're listening or if you even listen to prayers that come from greasers like me. But, if you do then I'm begging you. Please, don't let him hurt my baby sister again. I can't watch her go through that again and please don't let him take her from me. Don't you dare let him take her from me. You already took my parents from me way to soon. You can't take her too, she's the only light left in my life. She's the reason why I get up every morning and face the day, she's the reason why I work my butt off at work to bring home a pay check, she's the reason why I do anything. Everything I do is for her. So please, don't let him take her and don't let him hurt her again. She didn't deserve any of what they did to her last year and she doesn't deserve to go through it again. She has too good of a heart to have anything bad happen to her. I'm not going to take up anymore of your time, but please don't let her get hurt again.

 **Once again sorry for the super late update! Please review!**


	12. Authors Note

I've deleted the flashback chapter (chapter 12) from this story. I'm sorry if a lot of you didn't like it. I guess that's okay, I mean you're all entitled to your opinion. Since some of you said that you don't know if you want to continue reading this story then I'm going to ask you all this. If you guys want to stop reading then I'll stop posting chapters and delete the story all together along with the first story. If you don't want that then let me know. Comment what you want in the reviews.


	13. Chapter 13

I've been completely paranoid ever since my run in with Carter's little brother last week. My nightmares have gotten increasingly worse. I'm back to having four or five a night whereas a couple months ago I was only having one or two. My brothers have told me that something about my nightmares is different though. I've actually started sleep walking during them, well actually sleep running as my brothers put it. They say that when I have a really bad one I shoot out of bed and run out of the house. I don't remembering doing anything like that. Heck, I'm having a hard time remembering what my nightmares have been about recently. The only thing I remember about them is that they have something to do with Carter. Darry has been wrapping my feet in gauze every night and he makes me wear socks to bed now because he never knows when I'm going to sleep run. He's been getting better at catching it though he says. Apparently I show cues to when I'm going to run and when he sees one of them he has Soda or Pony shut the door before I can run and he wraps me in his arms so that I can't move. Like I said I don't remember any of this but I'm glad that my brothers are keeping me safe.

"Sky!" I hear someone shout at me.

"What!?" I shout startled from where I sit in the tree on my platform.

"Are you okay? You've been up there for awhile." Steve asks looking up at me from where he stands at the base of the tree.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here anyways? I thought I was home alone." I ask him confused.

"I just stopped in." he says simply while starting to climb up the tree.

"Why?" I ask him. I mean he never just stops in unless my brothers are home too.

"What, am I not allowed to come see you anymore?" he asks with an eyebrow raised as he sits down across from me on the platform.

"You're worried about me too. Aren't you?" I ask him.

"No, I'm-"

"Don't lie to me." I tell him sternly while cutting him off.

"Fine. Yes, I'm worried about you too Sky, we all are." he sighs.

"You guys all need to stop worrying about me so much. I'm fine." I tell him. I hate how much everyone has been worrying about me when there is no reason to.

"Sky, you're clearly not. I've seen you have one of your nightmares recently. I've seen you run out of this house and into the night. I've helped your brothers search for you in the middle of the night. So forgive me for worrying about you and your well being." he says giving me a knowing look.

"I know and I'm sorry. I just wish everything would go back to how it was before I had that run in with Carter's brother. Back to when you guys weren't constantly worrying about me 24/7." I sigh while running a hand through my hair in frustration.

"I know Sky. To be honest though we all worried about you 24/7 even before that. I don't think any of us stopped worrying about you after what happened last year." he says.

"I know. I just feel so guilty though." I tell him.

"Why?" he asks confused.

"Have you seen Darry, Pony, or Soda lately? Especially Soda?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I mean Sky I see them pretty much everyday." he says.

"I know, but have you taken a really good look at them. They're all exhausted and it's all because of me." I sigh.

"Sky, your brothers work hard, it's not surprising that they look exhausted from time to time." he says.

"I know but they've been exhausted constantly. I mean Pony's grades are slipping because he hasn't had the time to study for his tests because he's been too busy worrying about me or following me around when I go somewhere. Darry then gets mad at him for it and stressed out over it because he doesn't want the state to stop in for a visit and ask about why his grades are slipping. Darry also rarely gets a good nights sleep because he's too busy staying up and watching me sleep to make sure that I don't 'sleep run' when I have a nightmare. Soda is the worst though. I mean I'm pretty sure that he hasn't slept at all for the past few nights because he wants to keep an eye on me while I sleep. Even though Darry keeps an eye on me he still stays awake. Soda's constantly looking me over when I come home from school or from a walk to make sure that there are no new bruises on me or anything like that. I just want everything to go back to normal." I rant.

"Sky, I know it's hard to accept the fact that your brothers are always going to worry about you but you have to. Even if all of that stuff didn't happen to you last year they would still worry about you and so would all of us. I mean you still had nightmares and panic attacks before that. I can't even describe how bad it scared and freaked Soda out the first time you ever had a panic attack. I think he thought that you were dying or something. He wasn't the only one terrified though, we all were because we had no idea what was happening to you until you finally told us that you'd been having those attacks for months now just never in front of us. Sky, we're a family and family worries about each other. I'll talk to Darry and Soda. Maybe Dally or I can stay over some nights and keep an eye on you so that your brothers can get a good nights sleep." he suggests.

"You'd really do that for me?" I ask him shocked.

"Of course I would, I'd do anything for you Sky and you know that." he says.

"Thank you." I thank him while wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him tight.

"No problem Sky." he says while hugging me back.

 **Pony's POV**

I just got home from track practice. I noticed Steve's car parked in front of the house so he must be here hanging out with Sky like Soda asked him to do when she got home from school. After taking my shoes off I head into the bedroom to try and finish my homework before Darry and Soda get home from work. My grades have been slipping a bit so I'm trying my hardest to get them back up. When I sit down at the desk that I share with Sky I notice a notebook on it that I've never seen before. On the cover it says 'Sky's Diary'. Huh, I didn't know that she actually kept a diary. I mean she always makes fun of the girls that do so I didn't think that she'd have one. I know that I shouldn't look at it because that would be invading Sky's privacy but I let my curiosity of what she has written in here get the best of me and I decide to open it, completely forgetting about my homework. I open the cover and start reading the first page. As I continue to read page after page I can't help but think to myself that I never should've opened this because everything I'm reading is just making me extremely angry. I can't get myself to stop though because I need to know what else happened.

 **I know you guys probably hate me for leaving it at a cliff hanger but I haven't done one in awhile and I just couldn't help myself. What do you guys think Sky wrote about in her diary? Also one of you asked in a review how old Dally is because you think that Dally and Sky would be good together. Dally is a year younger then Darry so he's 20. As always please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Pony's POV**

I can't believe that those three creeps did all of this stuff to her. I mean I knew that they did a lot of horrible stuff to her but I had no idea just how much about what they did she's been hiding from us.

"Hey Pone, what are you doing?" Soda asks from behind me which makes me jump a mile and slam the notebook shut.

"Oh, nothing. How was work?" I ask him trying to play off the fact that I was just reading my sister's diary.

"Nothing, huh? What were you reading before I came in here?" he asks raising an eyebrow at me.

"I was just reading over my notes." I lie.

"If you were just reading over your notes then why were you so startled by me catching you?" he asks with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"I just wasn't expecting you to be home yet that's all." I lie again.

"Pone, just show me what you were reading." he tells me while holding his hand out for the notebook.

"It's nothing, really." I tell him trying to get him to leave it alone.

"Is it something bad that you don't want me to see?" he asks still holding his hand out for it.

"No." I tell him.

"Then let me see it, don't make me take it from you Pony." he tells me somewhat sternly while tapping his foot impatiently.

"Fine, but the notebook isn't mine." I sigh while picking it up off the desk and handing it to him.

"Well whose is it?" he asks not yet opening it.

"It's Sky's diary." I tell him while scratching the back of my neck nervously, worried that he's going to yell at me for reading it.

"Sky has a diary? Since when?" he asks shocked.

"According to her first entry she's had one since the beginning of her freshman year." I tell him.

"Pony you shouldn't have read this, that's invading her privacy. Where did you find it anyways?" he somewhat scolds me.

"I wasn't looking for it. I just came in here to do my homework and it was sitting on the desk." I tell him.

"Is there anything bad in here? Has she written anything that I or Darry should know about?" he asks.

"Oh, everything she's written in there is bad. I think that the only good entry she wrote was on her first day of high school but after that everything is just horrible." I tell him.

"I take it she wrote about what happened to her?" he asks knowingly.

"Yeah, but there's so much more to it that we don't know. She hasn't told us everything that happened to her. I mean she wrote an entry every single day. She's written down every single horrible and unspeakable thing they did to her for that whole year." I tell him getting angry all over again just thinking about what I've read so far.

"I know I shouldn't invade her privacy like this but I can't go on without knowing what else happened to her. Maybe what she wrote in here will help us understand her nightmares better and we might be able to help her through them more." he says while sitting on the bed and opening her diary.

"Pony, go get Darry but make sure that Sky's still out in the backyard with Steve before you bring him in here." he tells me after he's read through a few pages.

"Okay." I say before heading out of the room to find Darry.

 **Soda's POV**

I can't believe what I'm reading, well I can believe it but I just don't want to believe that it all happened to her. I mean I was shocked and angry about everything that she did tell us but now that I know there is so much more that she didn't my anger level has increased ten folds.

 _January 5th_

 _Before mom died I asked her what it meant to be loved by someone that wasn't family. She spent almost the whole afternoon explaining all the different ways that people who aren't family like a boyfriend showed how they loved you. The way he would look at you with so much adoration in his eyes, how he would always want to spend time with you, how he would take care of you even when you didn't need it, the way he would hug you, the way he would hold your hand, the way he would want to protect you from everything bad in the world, and especially in the way he would kiss you. I shuddered at the thought of kissing a boy. I mean I was still young at the time when I had this talk with mom. I asked her if dad did all of those things for her throughout their relationship. She told me that he not only did but he still does all of those things and more._

 _February 3rd_

 _The beatings are getting worse and worse everyday. It's becoming harder and harder for me to hide them from my brothers and the gang. I know that their all starting to suspect something since their starting to ask me everyday how school was and if I got hurt or if anything bad happened. I just tell them that everything is fine and nothing unusual happened. I don't want to worry them anymore than they already do worry about me. Anyways enough about that, let's move on to what those three creeps did to me today. I was walking down the hallway to my locker and Carter came up behind me and shoved me as hard as he could into it. I ended up falling to the ground and cut myself just above my eye on the lock. I'm just glad that's all they did to me today. The hardest part of it all was when I got home and Darry noticed the cut and freaked out about it. Luckily I was able to lie my way out of it but I know that I'm only going to be able to lie to them for only so much longer before they all corner me and confront me about it. For now I'll just take it one day at a time and pray that I'll be able to come home everyday in one piece and that they won't eventually kill me._

 _February 20th_

 _Today is absolutely the worst day of my life. I always thought that you were supposed to have sex when you're ready to, when you're dating someone and most likely in love with that person. I thought that it was supposed to be my decision when I was ready and no one else's. I knew that it was wrong for someone to pressure you to have sex when you're not ready for that. I especially knew that no one should ever force me into having sex, ever. I know that it's happened to people before, that people have been forced to have sex or do things like that when they don't want to. I just thought that something like that would ever happen to me. But it did because three creeps came into my life. Tonight my choice about all of this was taken away and I'll never be able to go back in time and change what happened to me, what those creeps did to me. Thirteen years old is way too young for someone to lose their virginity. I guess if it's your choice then that's a different story but that's still too young for anyone to do that. I would've never thought that I would lose my virginity at the young age of thirteen, but I did. It wasn't my choice, if it was I wouldn't have lost it until I was older and I was ready to. But I was forced into it, I didn't have a choice. I couldn't fight back even though I tried so hard to. But a tiny thirteen year old girl is no match in strength to three older guys. I told them no, heck I screamed it at the top of my lungs but they never listened. Instead they stuffed one of their ties into my mouth so I couldn't scream anymore. After that everything is kind of a blur. I still will never forget that excruciating pain I felt in between my legs when Carter entered me in one powerful thrust. No warning, no nothing. After he was settled inside me I got punched because there was blood everywhere since it was my first time. He just started pushing in and out of me at a frenzied pace which made the pain ten times worse. I could barely breathe because of the tie in my mouth and how bad I was crying from the pain. After he finished he looked at me with a satisfied smirk on his face before switching places with Cole, allowing him to have his turn with me. Like Carter he was just as rough with me. Finally Seth had his turn with me and it hurt so much, I was in so much pain. When they were finished they just left me there in the middle of the street in a pile of my own blood. That was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. I hoped after that night I would never experience anything like that ever again but I know that's just hopeful thinking because if they had the nerve to do that to me once then they won't even think twice about doing it to me again._

 _March 30th_

 _Well today was another bad day just like everyday of my life has been since the beginning of the year. Today I was walking home from school and decided to take the long way and walk through the park to clear my head. As I came around the fountain in the middle of the park Carter, Seth, and Cole all came up and surrounded me. I tried to push my way past them but it was useless because they just over powered me like they always do. Carter smirked at me as Seth and Cole grabbed me by my arms and he pushed me back until I fell into the fountain. I tried to get up but all three of them held me underwater. I kept kicking against them, trying to get them to let me go so that I could get the air they were depriving me of but nothing I did worked. My lungs hurt so bad because of the lack of oxygen. I started to feel weaker and slowly stopped fighting back as I felt myself floating away. Just seconds before I thought I was going to pass out and never wake up they yanked me out of the water. I coughed up mouthfuls of water before frantically trying to get as much air as I could into my burning lungs. It seemed right as I got enough oxygen to breathe normally again they pushed me back into the water and repeated the whole process all over again. I don't know how many times they did that to me but eventually they pulled me out for the last time and threw me to the ground. I just laid there coughing up water and trying to breathe again while the three of them stalked away from me but I could hear their laughter because they were so happy that they hurt me. I know this sounds crazy and if anybody ever read this diary they would think I was but I'd rather have them rape me then do this to me ever again. At least when their raping me I can still breathe._

"Soda what is it? What do you need to tell me?" Darry asks coming into the room with Pony following behind him.

"Shut the door first." I tell him.

"Okay, what's so important that Sky can't hear what you need to tell me?" he asks again with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"Pony found Sky's diary." I tell him.

"She has a diary?" he asks surprised just like Pony and I were.

"Yeah." I tell him.

"I didn't find it either, it was just sitting on the desk when I came in here." Pony says.

"Okay, so what has she written in it?" he asks.

"She's written all about what they did to her and by everything I mean _everything,_ in complete detail." I tell him.

"Okay, but why is that so important? I mean she told us everything that they did to her." he asks confused by the importance of her diary.

"No, she hasn't." I tell him.

"Okay, what hasn't she told us?" he asks.

"Ready the entries on February 3rd and 20th, and the one on March 30th." I tell him while handing him the diary. I'm so angry at those three for what they did to her. I'm also somewhat angry with Sky for keeping all of this information of what they did to her from us. She promised us that there would be no more secrets and lying after the rumble and yet she continues to lie and hide stuff from us.

"I'm going to kill them. So that's why she always wakes up from her nightmares not being able to breathe." he says after reading the entries that I told him to.

"Yeah, and that's why she absolutely hates taking baths now because it reminds her of all the times they did that to her." I tell him referring to her entry on March 30th.

"Is that all she hasn't told us or is there more?" he asks.

"No, that's the only main thing she didn't tell us about. The rest of what she's written in here is just about everything they did to her each day in complete detail. It makes me sick just reading one of her entries about what they did to her. The entry she wrote about the first time they raped her makes me so angry and feel so sick at the same time." I tell him shivering at just the thought of what they did to her and how deep in detail she wrote about it.

"If that creep has the nerve to come back to this town he is never going to get in a ten foot radius of her. I will never let him lay even a finger on her ever again." he growls while slamming the book shut.

"I just wish that there was someway that I could've known that they were doing all of that stuff to her. So that I could've stopped it before they progressed to the point of raping her." I sigh, beating myself up on the inside for not being able to protect her like I should've been able to.

"Soda, don't beat yourself up about this." he tells me while clapping me on the shoulder. I just nod my head at him although I can't help but continue to do so.

"Darry, what are we having for dinner?" Sky asks coming into the room.

"How about spaghetti?" he asks her.

"Darry, what do you have in your hands?" she asks him as her facial expression contorts into one of anger.

"It's Pony's science notebook, I was helping him with his homework." he lies to her, hoping she'll believe his lie.

"No it's not. What are you guys doing with my diary?" she growls coming over to him and ripping the notebook out of his hands.

"You left it on the desk." Pony tells her.

"So you thought that gave you the right to read it?" she hisses.

"Sky, we were curious about what you wrote in there and we let our curiosity get the better of us." I tell her.

"That gives you no right to invade my privacy." she hisses.

"I thought you weren't going to lie to us anymore? Why didn't you tell us all of what they did to you?" I ask her, crossing my arms firmly in front of my chest.

"I have a right to my secrets just like everyone does. How can I trust you now that you all betrayed me by invading my privacy like this?" she asks holding the diary tightly to her chest.

"Sky-"

"Shut up, I don't want to hear another fucking excuse come from your mouth. I'm out of here." she growls while running out of the room and out the door.

"Sky wait!" Darry hollers after her but it's too late because she's already halfway down the street.

"Guys what's going on? I heard Sky yelling." Steve asks coming into the house.

"Guys, why did I just see Sky running as fast as she can down the street with a baseball bat in her hands?" Dally asks coming in through the front door.

"We read her diary and she found out. She got so mad at us that she couldn't stand to be in the same room as us so she left." I tell them.

"You guys read her diary?" Dally asks shocked and clearly angry that we did.

"We didn't even know that she had one. But when Pony found it left on their desk he couldn't help but read it." Darry says.

"What did she write in it?" Steve asks.

I then proceed to tell them everything that I just told Darry about what they did to her that she's been hiding from us.

"If that ass hole comes back to this town I'm going to kill him." Dally growls.

"I know, we all want to. But we can't think about that right now. We have to go find Sky before she runs into some socs again because she's not paying attention to where she's going." I say while heading out the door with everyone else following behind me.

 **Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

I can't believe that they invaded my privacy like that. Just because my diary was left on the desk it still gave them no right to read it. I thought that my brothers had more respect for me then that. I'm so angry with them right now that I can't even think, well I can think enough to pay attention to where I'm walking so that I don't end up on the wrong side of town again. Like every time I run away from home I find myself at the park. I go to sit on the swing and just think for a bit but then I remember that I have a baseball bat in my hand and I suddenly feel the need to hit something with it. It's Pony's but I don't really care right now. I look around to see what I can hit and then my eyes land on one of the many trees. I walk over to it and then start hitting the bat against it as hard as I can. Every time it comes in contact with the tree it makes a satisfying loud smacking noise. I continue to hit the tree with it until a loud snap sounds and when I look down at the bat I see that it's broke in half. I look at it, inspecting it and then I see how pointy it is. I mean if I stuck that into my arm it would definitely do some damage and that's just what I need right now. I take the broken bat with me as I walk over to the fountain and sit on the edge of it. I'm not completely comfortable with sitting here but Carter's not here to drown me in it so I should be fine. Here goes nothing I think as I slowly start sticking it into my arm, applying more pressure as I go until I see blood and even after I do I don't stop. After my arm starts to feel numb from the pain I move to my leg. I stick the bat into my leg right between the hole in my jeans. You'd think that the pain would hurt but it doesn't, it actually feels good. It numbs the rest of the pain I'm feeling and I'm not just talking about today. I mean all of the pain that they put me through last year and all the pain I felt after I found out my parents died. I know that it's wrong for me to hurt myself like this but it's the only thing that seems to keep me at peace.

 **Soda's POV**

"Where do you think she went?" Steve asks as we're walking down the street.

"She went to the park." Dally says confidently.

"How do you know that?" I ask him.

"That's her number one go to spot when she's upset." he says knowing her all to well.

"Okay, let's go then." Darry says as we change our course and start walking towards the park.

"Hey guys, where are you going?" Two-bit asks coming up to us with Johnny beside him.

"Sky ran off again." I tell him.

"Why?" he asks knowing that she doesn't usually run off unless something bad has happened.

Darry then proceeds to fill both of them in on what has happened within the past hour.

"How could you guys do that to her?" Johnny asks and you can actually hear anger in his voice which shocks us because Johnny never gets angry.

"We know, we shouldn't have but we did and we can't take it back. We just need to find Sky before something bad happens to her again." Pony says while picking up his speed somewhat.

"Sky!" I shout seeing her sitting on the edge of the fountain.

"What!?" she shouts startled, jumping a mile and falling backwards into the fountain.

"Sky!" Darry shouts alarmed while we all start running over to her.

"Help!" she screams but it comes out in a mumble because her mouth is full of water.

"You're okay baby girl, I've got you." I tell her while grabbing her arms and pulling her out of the fountain.

"I can't breathe." she says gasping for air.

"Deep breaths baby girl." I tell her softly while sitting down on the edge of the fountain with her on my lap.

"No! Not again!" she shouts while jumping off my lap and trying to run away from us. Although instead of running she is limping. What happened to her?

 **Darry's POV**

"Sky come back here! Nobody is going to hurt you!" I shout while running after her. I catch up to her in a matter of seconds and wrap my arms around her so that she can't go anywhere.

"Let me go! I don't want to do that again!" she shouts while thrashing violently in my arms.

"Sky! Sky, look at me." I tell her sternly while turning her so that she's now facing me. I then take her face in my hands so that she has to look at me.

"It's just me peanut, I'm not going to hurt you." I tell her softly while wiping some of the water out of her eyes.

"Darry?" she asks confused.

"Yeah peanut, I'm right here." I reassure her.

"Why did you come after me?" she asks as a look of hurt and betrayal takes over her face.

"Sky, I'll always come after you, we all will. Whether you're mad at us or not." I tell her while pulling her to me and hugging her tight.

"We're so sorry Sky." Pony apologizes to her when him and everyone else come over to us.

"Are you okay baby girl?" Soda asks her with worry thick in his voice.

"I'm fine, now that I can breathe." she says although her breathing is still somewhat shaky.

"We're so sorry for scaring you Sky." Steve apologizes to her.

"Why would you be sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about. I mean all you did was scare me so bad that I fell into the fountain. The one that they repeatedly drowned me in and I felt like I was drowning all over again. Why would you have to be sorry for that?" she hisses while distancing herself away from all of us. Well, distances herself away from me, Pony, and Soda. Moving over next to Dally instead. If anything was to ever happen to Pony, Soda, or I, Dally would be the one to take care of her. Sky sees everyone in the gang as her brothers too but her and Dally have a special bond that is different from everyone else in the gang and also different from the ones she has with Pony, Soda, and I. She's just had this connection with Dally that no one else will ever have since the day she met him. She was the only one that has ever been able to break through that tough outer shield he keeps around himself. Mom tried so hard to get through it but it wasn't until Sky came along that there was finally a small dent put in his shield.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _"Mommy!" Sky's four year old voice shrieks through the house._

 _"What is it Sky bear?" mom asks rushing out into the living room where Sky sits on the floor in front of the couch with Pony, Soda, and me._

 _"Where's Dally? I want to play with him." she asks well more like demands._

 _"I don't know where he is right now sweetie. Maybe he'll stop in to see you later." mom tells her gently trying to avoid an all out Sky meltdown right now._

 _"I want to play with him now!" she screams while a huge pout takes over her face._

 _"Sky bear, he'll come and see you later I promise. Now please stop crying." mom pleads with her while lifting her up into her arms and resting her on her hip._

 _"No!" she wails at the top of her lungs as more tears stream down her face._

 _"Don't cry baby girl, I'll play with you." Soda tells her while standing up and tickling her sides but all it does is make her cry more._

 _"What's with all the crying out here?" dad asks coming into the room._

 _"Sky's upset that Dally isn't here to play with her." I tell him._

 _"Oh peanut, please don't cry. I don't like it when you cry. It makes daddy sad when you cry." dad tells her softly while lifting her out of mom's arms and into his own._

 _"I want Dally daddy!" she cries even louder if that's even possible._

 _"I know you do peanut. Why don't you go outside and play with your brothers? I'm sure that Darry would love to push you on the swing and I know how much you love it." he tells her while kissing away the tears on her cheeks before looking at me._

 _"Come on Sky, I'll push you on the swing." I tell her while standing up and putting my shoes on._

 _"Pony and I will play outside with you too." Soda says excitedly while putting his shoes on and then helping Pony with his._

 _"Okay." she sighs not happy but she loves the swing too much to pass it up._

 _"Come on Sky." Pony says slightly impatient as him and Soda head out the front door._

 _"Darry carry me." she says while holding her arms out to me after dad has put her shoes on._

 _"Okay." I tell her while smiling down at her before lifting her up into my arms._

 _"Make sure you guys stay in the front yard. Darry, make sure that your brothers don't go outside the gate." mom tells me sternly before I'm completely out the door._

 _"Don't worry mom, I'll keep an eye on them." I holler back._

 _"Darry, I wanna swing." Sky demands while kicking her legs impatiently._

 _"Okay, hold on." I tell her before placing her in the swing._

 _"I miss Dally." she says as I push her back and forth._

 _"I know you do Sky, but look how high you're going. Hold on tight." I tell her trying to distract her from thinking about Dally. It seems to do the trick because soon enough she's laughing and repeatedly telling me to push her higher._

 _I don't know what it is about Dally that makes her want to always be around him. I mean he's not even nice to her, well he's not really nice to anyone except for maybe Johnny but that's just how he is. Mom says he's had a tough life so he's a little cold and stand offish but he'll open up to us eventually. Sky for some reason though doesn't understand that. She just sees Dally as someone who doesn't want to play with her and she doesn't understand why because she's too little. The thing is though, you never tell Sky that you don't want to play with her because she won't leave you alone until you do. I had homework last week and told Sky that I was too busy to play with her, she didn't leave my side for a whole week until I finally spent a whole day playing with her. You just can't say no to her either for some reason, none of us can. I don't understand how Dally can though but I guess that's because of his tough life._

 _"Hey Curtis brothers and sister!" Two-bit hollers coming through the gate with Johnny, Dally, and Steve behind him._

 _"Hey." I say back._

 _"Dally!" Sky shrieks trying to jump off the swing and run to him but I catch her just before she can._

 _"Darry let me go! I want to see Dally." she demands while kicking her legs._

 _"I will Sky, I just don't want you to jump and get hurt." I tell her and then set her down on her feet. The minute her feet hit the ground she takes off like a rocket towards Dally._

 _"Who let the pipsqueak out of the house?" Dally scoffs not even paying attention to Sky standing in front of him._

 _"We brought her outside to play with us." Pony tells him._

 _"Actually, we brought her out here to take her mind off of you. She's been crying for hours because she wanted to see you." I tell him with some anger in my voice while crossing my arms firmly in front of my chest. I mean Sky loves him to death and he doesn't give a rats ass about her and that pisses me off. I mean I get that he's had a tough life but Sky's just a little kid, a baby you could say. He could at least pretend to care about her a little._

 _"Well that's not my fault. I didn't tell the pipsqueak to like me, she just does." he says defensively._

 _"I don't like you Dally." she says._

 _"No, you're right, you don't kid." he tells Sky._

 _"No! You didn't let me finish!" she shouts at him while balling her little hands into fists at her side. She may be little but she's still a Curtis and has that fire inside of her._

 _"What did you want to say Sky?" I ask her while placing my hands on her little shoulders, trying to calm her down somewhat._

 _"I don't just like you Dally. I love you." she tells him while wrapping her small arms around his leg._

 _"You what?" Dally stammers in shock. I think that's the first time that he's ever heard someone say that they love him._

 _"I love you Dally. Just like I love Darry, Soda, Pony, Two-bit, Johnny, and Steve." she says while looking up at him._

 _"No, you don't kid. You're too little to know what that word means." he tells her finally breaking through the initial shock he's feeling after what she told him._

 _"Yes I do." she tells him matter of factly._

 _"No you don't." he says back._

 _"Yes I do." she tells him again._

 _"No, you don't." he tells her sterner._

 _"Yes I do!" she shouts at him while balling her fists again and stomping her foot angrily on the ground._

 _"Sky, calm down." I tell her calmly while placing my hands on her shoulders again._

 _"No! Dally says that I don't know what love means and I do!" she hollers at me while shoving my hands off of her._

 _"Okay pipsqueak, if you're so smart then tell me what it means?" he challenges her._

 _"I will. Family is love. You do anything for family. You do stuff with them and you spend time with them. Like how Pony reads to me and I read to him. When Soda makes me laugh because he's so silly. Like how Darry always makes sure that I'm safe. Like how mom and dad kiss me goodnight every night. How Johnny and Pony love to play together. How Soda, Two-bit, and Steve love racing cars together. How you and Darry like to race each other to see who's faster or stronger. See, we're all one big weird but happy family." she says. Holy shit is she smart. I mean how can she be this smart when she's only four? Wait, what am I thinking? Pony was reading books for kindergarteners when he was three so of course Sky would be smart like that too. I mean she did start reading when she was two and a half._

 _"When did you get to be so smart kid?" he asks her after her rant with a smirk on his face._

 _"What do you mean when? I was always this smart." she fires back. There's the fire and witty comebacks again, she gets that from mom._

 _"Sky, I have to tell you, you definitely know what love means." I tell her and ruffle her hair._

 _"Darry stop!" she whines while pushing my hand away from her head._

 _"So Dal, do you believe that she knows what love means now?" I ask him._

 _"I guess so." he sighs while kicking the rock in front of him._

 _"Ha, told you so." she giggles which in turn makes all of us start laughing with her, even Dally. Her laugh is just infectious like that._

 _"Will you stop being so mean to her now Dal?" I ask him as she once again wraps her tiny arms around his legs._

 _"I never meant to be mean to her, that's just the only way that I've ever known how to show somebody that you love them." he tells me quietly so that nobody else but me will hear as he bends down and wraps his arms around Sky's small frame._

* * *

That was the first time any of us saw Dally show any type of affection to anyone. That day a brick in his wall came down and everyday after that another one came down. Not because of mom or dad or any of us, it was all because of Sky. Don't get me wrong, we all tried to break through to him, especially mom but Sky was the only one that could and is the only one that still can when he starts going back to his old ways.

"Sky, we are sorry though. Not just for that, for everything that happened back at home before now. We never should've read your diary. That was wrong of us to do and we are so sorry." Soda apologizes to her again while trying to reach out for her hand but she just hides it behind her while grabbing Dally's free hand with her other one. Dally doesn't say anything, he just looks down at her and pries his hand from hers and wraps his arm around her shoulders instead.

"It's okay. Let's just forget about everything that happened today." she sighs while leaning into Dally's side. I know that she won't just forget about it but she looks exhausted so I'm just going to let it be for now.

"Okay, let's get you home peanut. You look exhausted." I tell her.

"Okay, here's your bat back Pony. I broke it, sorry." she apologizes while handing him what's left of his once whole baseball bat.

"It's okay Sky. I do have one question?" he asks as we all start walking back to the house.

"What?" she asks.

"Why does it look like there's blood on it?" he asks and at that we all stop dead in our tracks.

"Sky, what did you do?" I ask her trying to remain calm but struggling.

"I broke the bat." she says simply.

"We can see that. How did you break the bat?" I ask her, starting from the beginning.

"I got angry and started hitting a tree with it, after one too many hits it eventually snapped." she explains.

"Okay, now tell me why there is blood on it, what did you do with it?" I ask her struggling even more to remain calm.

"Do I really need to tell you guys or are all of you smart enough to put two and two together?" she asks slightly annoyed.

"We've been through this before, you need to tell us Sky." I tell her sternly. Of course we all already know what she did, she hurt herself. But, I need to hear her say what she did.

"Fine. I took the bat and stabbed it into my arm. I watched the blood drip from it until that arm went numb and then I repeated the process with the other one. After both my arms were numb I stabbed it into my thigh. My thigh was almost completely numb when you guys found me." she explains.

"Okay, this is what we're going to do. Sky, we're going to take you home and Soda's going to clean you up. After that we're going to have a long talk about this." I tell her.

"We've had talks about this before Darry, multiple times." she reminds me.

"I know we have but this is going to be different, something's gotta give Sky." I tell her as we continue the rest of the walk home.

 **Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm so sorry for the really late update! I've just been so busy lately with family stuff and I haven't really been home a lot or had the time to write.** **Once again I'm so sorry but I really hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

 _"Fine. I took the bat and stabbed it into my arm. I watched the blood drip from it until that arm went numb and then I repeated the process with the other one. After both my arms were numb I stabbed it into my thigh. My thigh was almost completely numb when you guys found me." she explains._

 _"Okay, this is what we're going to do. Sky, we're going to take you home and Soda's going to clean you up. After that, we're going to have a long talk about this." I tell her._

 _"We've had talks about this before Darry, multiple times." she reminds me._

 _"I know we have but this is going to be different, something's gotta give Sky." I tell her as we continue the rest of the walk home._

 **Sky's POV**

"Come on baby girl, let's go clean you up." Soda tells me when we get home while nodding his head in the direction of the bathroom.

"Okay." I sigh while following him down the hall. Once in the bathroom Soda lifts me up onto the counter before pulling out the first aid kit.

"I'm not going to lie to you baby girl, this is going to hurt." he says while pulling out the hydrogen peroxide and holding his hand out for my arm.

"Whatever." I sigh annoyed while placing my left arm in his hand.

"Fuck!" I hiss when the damn stuff makes contact with my arm.

"I know it hurts baby girl. But still, watch the language." he softly scolds me before moving onto my right arm. After he's finished disinfecting both of my arms he wraps them up in gauze before doing the same thing to my left thigh.

"Okay, your all done baby girl." he tells me after he's put the stuff away and then lifts me off the counter and places me back on my feet.

"Thanks Pepsi." I thank him while wrapping my arms tightly around his waist.

"No problem. Now come on, let's go have a talk." he says and kisses the top of my head before leading me back out into the living room. Once out there I take a seat on the couch in between Pony and Soda while the rest of the gang sits around the room in various places and Darry stands in front of me.

"I don't know where to start with you Sky." Darry sighs while running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"You can start by sitting down so that you're not looking down at me. It's making me uncomfortable." I tell him.

"Sorry." he says before going out into the kitchen and coming back with one of the chairs. He then places it where he was previously standing in front of me and sits down in it before looking at me again.

"That's better." I tell him feeling more at ease now that he's not looking down at me.

"So Sky, where do I start? I honestly don't know where to anymore. I'm at a loss for what to do to help you." he sighs defeated.

"I don't know. I honestly don't think there is anything more you can do to help me." I say while shrugging my shoulders.

"Sky, there's always something more we can do. We just have to figure out what that is." he says.

"If you say so." I say.

"I know I've asked you this a million times now but I'm going to ask you again. Why did you hurt yourself?" he asks.

"I don't know." I sigh while shrugging my shoulders again.

"Yes, you do." he says knowing that I don't just hurt myself for no reason usually.

"Fine. I was mad, I guess." I tell him.

"What do you mean you guess you were mad?" he asks confused.

"I looked and acted mad right?" I ask him.

"Yeah, you were furious Sky." Pony pipes in.

"If I did then how come I didn't feel it?" I ask.

"Okay Sky, I'm still confused. What do you mean?" Darry asks again.

"All I want to do is feel something again." I tell him while fiddling with my hands.

"Is that why you keep hurting yourself?" he asks still not fully understanding but starting to.

"Yeah." I tell him.

"Why do you have to hurt yourself to feel something? I mean you've been so happy lately." he asks.

"I've been faking it." I say.

"What?" he asks really thrown for a loop now.

"I can't feel anything, I'm numb. That's why I keep hurting myself, so that I can feel something again." I explain somewhat.

"Wh-"

"I mean what would you guys do if you were in my shoes and couldn't feel anything anymore? I don't feel any emotions anymore, I'm just numb. The only time I feel something is when I'm hurting myself or in pain. For the time that I'm hurting myself I finally feel something again. I was beaten and raped for a year, that does a lot to a person. I think I went numb after the first time they raped me and I've been numb ever since. The only time I felt something during that year was when they were torturing me. So that's why I keep hurting myself, I just want to feel something again. Is that so bad?" I explain.

"It is a bad thing that you keep hurting yourself Sky, but it's not a bad thing that you want to feel something again. I just don't know what to do to help you." he sighs truly at a loss for what to do to help me get through this.

"The thing is though that I'm starting to not even feel anything when I hurt myself. Like today, I felt nothing the whole time that I was stabbing that broken bat into my arms and my thigh. I felt absolutely nothing. No matter how much pressure I applied to it or how many times I stabbed it into my skin I had no feeling at all. I can't even feel that pain anymore and that used to be the only feeling I could still feel." I tell them.

"Sky, I'm so confused right now and I'm so frustrated that none of us know how to help you through this." Soda pipes in.

"See, like when I do this, I don't feel anything." I say and randomly stand up and punch the wall, for some reason I don't know why. I just stand there looking at the blood and split knuckles and think about how this should hurt and that I should be in a whole lot of pain right now but I'm not.

"Okay Sky, we understand. You don't need to show us anymore." Darry says while coming over to me and holding my bloody hand in his.

"Okay." I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

"What's wrong with me?" I blurt out.

"Honestly, I don't know peanut but I am going to do everything in my power to figure it out and get you through this." he says while pulling me to him and hugging me tight.

"We all are Sky." Dally says while coming over and kissing the top of my head.

"Am I mentally ill or something? I mean I saw a cat on the sidewalk yesterday and I thought that I could watch that cat get hit by a car and I wouldn't feel a thing." I ask them.

"You're not mentally ill Sky." he tells me but I know that he's just saying that so that I won't worry about it.

* * *

So after I had that really serious talk with my brothers and the gang, Darry called up my therapist Dr. Emily and scheduled me an appointment with her. I didn't understand why at first because I mean she just deals with eating disorders and stuff like that. How would she know how to help my 'feeling' problem and what it is and why I'm like this? Well, she's more than just a therapist for people with eating disorders, she deals with anything and everything when it comes to therapy and treatment. So Darry scheduled my appointment for a week after the day I stabbed myself but doctor Emily wanted to take some blood from me to look over my levels and stuff to see if there is actually a serious reason behind why I'm like this or if it's just all in my mind and I really am crazy. So I had blood drawn three days ago and I have my appointment with doctor Emily in three days.

"Sky, get ready, we have to go." I hear Darry holler through my bedroom door.

"Why? I thought we weren't going anywhere today?" I holler back not wanting to move from my spot on the bed staring up at the ceiling.

"Dr. Emily called, she wants to see you today in an hour instead of Friday. So get ready." he hollers back.

"Ugh, fine." I groan while unwillingly getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom. I wonder what's so urgent that she has to see me today instead of Friday? I guess I'll find out in an hour.

After I finish brushing my teeth and brushing out my hair I head back into the bedroom and sift through my side of the closet trying to find something to wear. Oh, I don't care what I look like. I just decide on one of my many pairs of ripped jean shorts and a plain black t-shirt.

"I'm ready." I sigh coming out of my room and into the living room after putting my shoes on.

"Come on, let's go Sky." he says ushering me out the door.

"Why is the gang here? I thought that you, Pony, and Soda were taking me?" I ask him confused when I see everyone piled in the bed of the truck and Soda in the front seat, Pony is in the back with the rest of the gang.

"We want to be there in case it's something serious." Dally says answering my question for Darry.

"Yeah, I mean doctors don't just call you days before an appointment and want you to come in immediately if there isn't something really wrong with you, even though she is just a therapist. Something must be really wrong with you Sky." Two-bit jokes with a chuckle.

"Maybe you're right." I say quietly. I know that him saying that should upset me, it should probably even worry me but it doesn't. I don't feel a single thing.

I. Feel. Nothing.

"Two-bit, you idiot." Dally growls at him and slaps him upside the head.

"Come on peanut, let's go or we're going to be late." Darry says from behind me while ushering me into the truck and also glaring at Two-bit for what he just said.

"Come on baby girl." Soda says while smiling at me and holding his hand out to me to help me in the truck. I don't say anything and just grab it and use it to pull myself in. Once I'm in I shuffle over to the middle and buckle my seatbelt.

"All buckled in?" Darry asks while putting the truck in gear and backing out of the driveway.

"Yeah." I tell him. After he's backed out of the driveway he starts on the fifteen minute drive we have to take to get to doctor Emily's office.

I wonder what's so urgent? Maybe I really am mentally ill and she just wants to tell me sooner rather than later. I don't know. I guess I was right though, there is something wrong with me, this isn't just all in my head. I'm sick.

 **What's wrong with Sky? What does Dr. Emily have to say that's so urgent? Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I am so so so so sorry for the very late update and leaving all of you in suspense for this long! My senior year fall semester at college just started up and I have been swamped with schoolwork and projects plus I'm working in a daycare this semester for a class so that has also been taking up a lot of my time. But, you'll be happy to know that I have been making it a goal to write at least a little bit each day so I'm hoping to update faster but I can't make any promises that that will happen. I just hope that you will all stick with me and this story even though I won't be able to update as often. I promise though that the next few chapters are going to be drama filled and this story is going to take a dramatic turn. I also want to thank all of you who continue to review my story it means a lot to me and always makes my day! Now without further a do it's time to find out what's wrong with Sky!**

* * *

 _"All buckled in?" Darry asks while putting the truck in gear and backing out of the driveway._

 _"Yeah." I tell him. After he's backed out of the driveway he starts on the fifteen minute drive we have to take to get to doctor Emily's office._

 _I wonder what's so urgent? Maybe I really am mentally ill and she just wants to tell me sooner rather than later. I don't know. I guess I was right though, there is something wrong with me, this isn't just all in my head. I'm sick._

* * *

The whole car ride to doctor Emily's office is filled with awkward silence. I can tell that everyone has something they want to say but they don't know whether they should or not so they just stay silent. I think they're all trying to figure out how I'm feeling right now and what's going through my brain. I should be scared right now, I should be terrified, but I'm not. I mean any normal person would be freaking out right now after getting a call like I just did from their doctor telling them to come in to see them immediately. I don't feel anything though. I just want to go see her and hear what she has to say and then go back home so I can lock myself in my room for the rest of the day.

"It's okay if you're nervous baby girl." Soda says breaking me out of my inner thoughts while putting his arm around me.

"I'm not." I tell him. He doesn't say anything else for the rest of the ride, he just holds me tighter.

"Okay everyone, let's go in." Darry says after putting the truck in park and getting out.

"Come on baby girl." Soda says while holding his hand out to me after he's gotten out. I just reach out and take it and allow him to help me out before walking around the truck towards the building.

"You okay short stuff?" Dally asks me while draping his arm across my shoulders while we all walk inside the building.

"I'm fine." I tell him.

"Skyler?" I hear doctor Emily's voice say from behind me before we've even checked in.

"Hi." I say when I turn around to face her.

"Who are all of these people with you? I recognize your brothers from our past meetings but not anyone else." she asks when she sees everyone with me.

"This is Dally, Steve, Two-bit, and Johnny, the rest of our gang and my family that I told you about." I tell her while pointing at each one of them.

"Well it's nice to finally meet all of you. Sky has said nothing but good things about all of you." she says with a smile on her face.

"I'm not sure I fully believe that." Two-bit says and I just roll my eyes at him.

"Sky, could you come with me out back to my office? I'd like to talk to you about why I called you in here today." she says while looking at me alone.

"Can my brothers come with me?" I ask her.

"Yes, your brothers are always welcome to come out back with you. If you want everyone else can come with you too but it's up to you, what ever will make you feel the most comfortable." she tells me.

"You guys can only come with us if you promise to behave and keep quiet." I tell them sternly while turning around to face the gang.

"Why are you just looking at me?" Two-bit asks me.

"Because you're the only one that doesn't keep quiet or follow directions." I tell him.

"I'll be good Sky, I promise." he says. I just nod my head at him before turning around and following doctor Emily out back to her office with my brothers and everyone else following behind us. Once in her office Dr. Emily shuts the door behind us and my brothers and the gang all sit down on her big couch while I sit down in the chair in front of the one she sits in.

"I'm crazy, aren't I? That's why you called me in here, to tell me that I belong locked in a foam room wearing a straight jacket and that they should throw away the key and leave me in there forever." I blurt out before she even has the chance to tell me anything.

"Wow, your brother Pony was right, you really do have a vivid and wild imagination." she says with a smile.

"You're not crazy Sky." she tells me with a shake of her head.

"If I'm not crazy, then why did you call me down here? Why couldn't what you have to tell me wait till Friday?" I ask her confused.

"I got the results of your blood work and a couple of the other tests I had done back today. I thought you would want to hear what the results are sooner rather than waiting till Friday." she tells me.

"What were the results?" I ask her.

"Do you know what dopamine is?" she asks me.

"No, what is it?" I ask her.

"It's a type of hormone and neurotransmitter that plays many important roles in both the body and the brain. I'm not going to get into all of the different things it does and controls in our body and brain because that will take way too long." she tells me.

"So what does dopamine have to do with me and what's wrong with me?" I ask her.

"Your body is lacking in dopamine, your levels of it are so low that you barely even have any in your body. We call it dopamine deficiency." she explains.

"Okay, so that explains one thing that's wrong with me but that doesn't explain why I can't feel anything and haven't been able to for months." I say.

"Actually, it does explain why you can't and haven't been able to feel anything for awhile now." she says.

"How?" I ask her confused.

"In the medical world we sometimes refer to dopamine as the 'molecule of happiness'. Dopamine is what makes us look forward to enjoying life and promotes our feelings of pleasure. It tends to be used as the explanation for why we can be happy and feel all our other emotions. Dopamine is also released into the body when you encounter unwanted stimuli. For example when you get in an argument with someone you care about or when you get a paper cut. One of the most common symptoms of low dopamine levels is Dopamine Deficient Depression, which after what your brothers have told me and what you have about what's been going on with you recently this is what I'm pretty sure you have. Your brothers say that you're constantly bored and that you're sleeping more than usual. You say that you can't feel anything and that you don't have as much physical energy as you used to. These things are all symptoms of Dopamine Deficient Depression. The number one thing that you told me that leads me to believe this is what you have is that you've been hurting yourself and having suicidal thoughts again."

"Wait, you have? Why didn't you tell us this?" Soda asks shocked while cutting Dr. Emily off and looking at me.

"They're just thoughts, I haven't actually tried to kill myself again. Now, can you stop talking and let Dr. Emily finish what she needs to tell me." I tell him before directing my attention back to Dr. Emily.

"As I was saying people in this depressed state with dopamine deficiency tend to compensate their lack of feeling and depression with cravings for stimulants. For example alcohol, street drugs, and in severe cases of Dopamine Deficient Depression the person can develop suicidal tendencies. Sky, I think with you it is one of these severe cases." she explains.

"Well, if this is what you believe I have, how do we treat it? I can't keep living my life like this." I ask her.

"Dr. Emily there has to be treatments for this right? I mean if she has a severe case of this like you said then I'm afraid that she will attempt to take her life again. She already tried more than once and that was last year before these problems started popping up. I just want my baby sister to go back to the happy fifteen year old she was." Darry asks her with worry and concern thick in his voice.

"Don't worry there are a couple different treatments we can chose from for this. One treatment without using drugs is changing your eating habits. Add more almonds, bananas, chocolate, eggs, strawberries, and apples to your diet, all of these foods are helpful in raising dopamine levels. I feel that since you already still struggle somewhat with eating that I should put you on a type of medication to help increase your levels. I would like to put you on Phenylalanine which is an essential amino acid. In the body Phenylalanine is converted into Tyrosine which is then used to produce dopamine. I would like to start you off by taking two 375mlg tablets in the morning on an empty stomach, so before you eat breakfast. From now on I would like to see you every three months to go over how you are handling the medication and to discuss when we should increase your dosage because I would like to get you up to the point where you are taking 1000mlg a day. What are your thoughts on this Sky?" she explains.

"I think it sounds like a good treatment plan to start out with. What happens if my body doesn't react well to the medication or if it rejects it? What do we do then?" I ask her.

"There are other medications that we can put you on if this one doesn't work for you." she says.

"How expensive is the medication?" Darry asks her. I'm hoping it's not overly expensive because if it is then I'm going to have to change my eating habits as my only treatment.

"The drug is actually very affordable. I already checked at your local pharmacy and it is available there for five dollars. So, do you want me to write the prescription?" she asks looking at Darry only.

"Yeah, go ahead. Even if it was expensive I'd do anything to help Sky get through this and back to her old self." he says looking at me and giving me a soft smile.

"Okay. I'm going to write this prescription for one hundred and twenty 375mlg tablets that you are to take two everyday in the morning on an empty stomach." she says while writing it all down on a pad of paper before tearing it off and handing it to me and I hand it to Darry to hold onto because knowing me I would probably lose it.

"Thank you Dr. Emily for everything. We'll drop this off at the pharmacy right after we leave here." he tells her while standing up and shaking her hand.

"I'm just doing my job Darry. Plus, I see something special in Sky and it would break my heart if I didn't do everything in my power to make sure she gets better and gets back to her old self." she says while turning to me and giving me a smile before wrapping me up in a hug.

"Thank you again." I tell her as we all leave her office.

"I'll always help you Sky and I'll see you in three months. When I see you next I hope to see a change in you." she says while walking us out and waving goodbye as we all hop in the truck and drive away.

 **So Sky finally has an answer for what's wrong with her and why she's been like this. Hopefully the medication will help her get better. As always please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I know, I know, another really really late update. I'm so sorry. I know it can get frustrating at times when waiting for me to update and I'm sorry about that. It's just that I'm a senior in college and even though I love this story and love writing it school comes first. I'm an education major and have been writing curriculum unit after curriculum unit and have been spending most of my time working with children. I just haven't had very much free time to write lately. I did find a little time to write this chapter so here it is. I hope you like it.**

* * *

We just got to the pharmacy and Darry went inside to get my medication. I decided to get out of the truck and stretch my legs. It's really uncomfortable sitting in the middle.

"What are you doing baby girl?" Soda asks me while also getting out.

"I'm just stretching my legs. It can get pretty cramped between the two of you." I say while walking across the parking lot.

"Don't go far." he tells me.

"I won't." I say back. I'm just going to walk to the lamp post that's maybe ten feet from the truck and back.

When I reach the lamp post I just stand there leaning up against it and looking up at the sky. It's such a beautiful day. If I felt like myself I'd probably be at the lot tossing around the football with the gang. I'm hoping that once I take the medicine it will make me feel better but I know that it doesn't just happen instantly. It will take at least a week before I start feeling better.

"Psst." I hear a voice say.

I look around me but I don't see anyone, weird.

"Hey." I hear the same voice whisper but I still don't see anyone.

"Who's there?" I call out but not very loud because I don't want my brothers or the gang to hear.

"What, you don't recognize my voice?" the voice asks and I try to rack my brain to figure out where I've heard that voice.

"No." I whisper still not remembering where I've heard it.

"I'll give you a hint slut." he hisses.

"No, it can't be." I gasp. It just can't be him. He wouldn't be that stupid to come back here. Not after he was basically exiled from this town.

"Who am I slut?" he hisses while I continue to look around to figure out where the voice is coming from.

"Carter?" I whisper my voice all shaky.

"No, but you're close." he says and out of the corner of my eye I see Connor come out of the bushes.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him my voice still shaky. I grab my wrist and start pulling at the rubber bands I keep around each wrist. Dr. Emily suggested it as a coping mechanism to stop me from cutting myself again.

"I came to warn you." he somewhat growls at me with a smirk on his face.

"Warn me about what?" I ask him.

"He's back." is all he says.

"Who's back?" I ask. He has to be lying, he can't really be back. He's just saying this stuff to mess with me.

"You know who, stop playing dumb." he hisses while rolling his eyes at me.

"No, you're lying. He's not back, he would never come back. You're just saying all this stuff to mess with me." I say still in disbelief.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but he's back." he says still with that horrible smirk on his face.

"If he's back then where is he and why haven't I seen him? I mean you said that he was coming back for me so why hasn't he come anywhere near me?" I ask him with my arms crossed in front of my chest.

"Don't worry, he's coming for you soon. He just needs more time to finalize his plan." he says.

"When is he coming for me?" I ask my voice all shaky again.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. You'll never see him coming, he's going to come for you when you least expect it." he says as that same scary as hell smile that is identical to his brothers takes over his face.

"No, I don't believe you." I say still in disbelief while shaking my head back and forth.

"Suit yourself, but don't say that I didn't warn you." he says with a shrug of his shoulders before turning around and walking away from me.

"Oh, one more thing." he says stopping and briefly turning back around to face me.

"What?" I ask him.

"If you think what he did to you over a year ago was bad then you'll really want to kill yourself and succeed this time. What he did to you then will feel like nothing compared to what he's going to do to you soon." he says with a smirk before disappearing into the bushes.

"Come on peanut. Stop day dreaming and get over here, we're going home." I hear Darry holler to me.

"I'm coming." I holler back and start running back over to the truck.

"You okay short stuff?" Dally asks while draping his arm across my shoulders.

"Yeah." I say while leaning into him.

"You sure baby girl? You look really pale." Soda asks while looking me over.

"I'm fine, just tired that's all." I say. I mean it's not a complete lie, I really am tired.

"Let's get home so you can take a nap." he says while hopping in the truck.

"Sky, why are you back there? Come sit up front with us." Darry asks me confused as to why I'm sitting in the bed of the truck because I always sit in the middle of them up front.

"I can't sit in between the two of you again. The two of you always squish me." I tell him.

"Dally, make sure you don't let her fall out." he tells him sternly.

"I won't." Dally says while sitting down and pulling me down so that I'm sitting on his lap. He wraps his arms around my waist tightly so that I won't slide out when Darry makes sharp turns.

In no time at all it seems like we're home. Once the truck is in park Dally unwraps his arms from my waist and allows me to get out. I jump out of the back before heading inside and right into my room. I head into the bathroom and change into a pair of shorts and a tank top. I then head back into the room and flop down on the bed. I was tired before but now I just feel completely exhausted.

"Baby girl?" Soda asks while coming into the room.

"Yeah?" I ask while looking up at him from where I lay snuggled under the covers.

"Can I lay down with you?" he asks while kicking off his shoes.

"Sure." I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

He then climbs into bed next to me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. I move over and rest my head on his chest while snuggling down more under the covers.

"Get some sleep baby girl." he whispers in my ear and kisses the top of my head.

"Okay." I say around a yawn before closing my eyes.

Right before I completely fall asleep I hear him whisper something.

"Please god, help her get better. I can't keep living with her feeling nothing. I just want my happy, loving life, giggly, and stubborn as hell baby sister back. I'm begging you please let this medication work and help her to feel again. I'm still not completely sure that you are listening but nothing bad has happened to her since the last time I talked to you so you must be. All I ask is for you to help her." he says.

If only he knew what Connor's warning for me was and what's coming for me. Well, who's coming for me.

 **I just wanted to say that I do plan on continuing this story till the very end. I have lots of ideas and big plans for it. I promise I won't just leave this story hanging, I will finish it. I know it's hard and frustrating to wait but if you all really love this story as much as I do then you'll just have to bare with me through this time of waiting awhile for updates. I'm sorry and I understand if you don't want to stick with it because of it taking me so long to update each time and that's fine but I do hope that you'll keep reading my story. Like I said before though school will come first but whenever I get free time I'll write for this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Is Carter really coming back or is Connor just messing with Sky? Please review!**


	19. Author's Note

I have a question for all of you. Some of you have been saying that you're sick of Carter and don't want him to come back into this story. Some of you want something else to happen instead. I already have an idea for the story but it does involve Carter. After a review I got though I'm starting to rethink that idea and go in a different direction. I also have another idea that involves Carter but in a different way. I have another idea that just involves something bad happening to Sky but nobody new or Carter coming into her life. I'm just not sure what to do because it seems like some of you are constantly asking for me to update and others are saying that their sick of this story. Maybe I should just end the story here instead of continuing it. I don't want to do that because I love writing but if that's what most people want then I just might.

I would like you all to tell me what you want in reviews so I can decide which direction to go in and what to do.

-Sabe96


	20. Chapter 19

**Soda's POV**

Sky has been on her medication for about two weeks now and I have to say I think it's actually working. Well, that and the fact that she gets to have extra chocolate cake because chocolate helps raise dopamine levels. In these past two weeks I've been starting to see little bits of the happy old Sky come out.

"Sky! That was my piece of cake!" I hear Pony whine from the kitchen.

"You shouldn't have left it just sitting there on the table." Sky says around a mouthful of cake when I come into the kitchen.

"I'm going to get you back for that." he says while glaring at her.

"Sure you are." she says with a smirk.

"I'm bored. Why don't we all go to the lot and toss the football around for awhile?" I suggest.

"Yeah, let's go." she says with a smile.

"Yeah, sounds fun." he agrees.

"Okay, baby girl go get ready and Pony and I will get Darry and the rest of the gang together." I say.

"Okay, I'll be ready in five." she says while running out of the kitchen and down the hall.

"Sky! No running in the house!" I hear Darry's booming voice scold her.

"Sorry!" she shouts back sheepishly before I hear our bedroom door slam shut.

"Darry, we're going to go to the lot and toss the football around. Are you going to come?" I ask him while putting my shoes on.

"Yeah, I'll come. Plus, I think it would be a good thing for Sky. I'm starting to see the old Sky come out which makes me think the medicine is working." he says.

"I know, I've noticed bits and pieces of the old Sky peaking out too." I say.

"I'm ready, let's go." Sky says coming out of our room all ready to go.

"Okay, we'll stop and gather up the gang on our way to the lot." Darry says while we all head out the door.

As we're walking I feel the weight of someone jumping on my back.

"Sky, what are you doing?" I ask her while grabbing her legs so that she won't fall off my back.

"I wanted a piggy back ride, so that's what I'm getting." she says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

I don't say anything and just shake my head at her. After making a couple stops along the way to gather up the gang we finally make it to the lot.

"Go long Sky!" Darry hollers getting ready to throw the football to her but giving her a minute to get far enough away.

"Throw it!" she hollers back. He then throws the ball hard and just as we all knew she would she has no trouble catching it.

We spend the next couple of hours just tossing the football around. Most of us have missed easy catches though because we can't stop watching Sky. I mean she's smiling and laughing and running around. We haven't seen her do anything physical in months and we haven't even seen the hint of a smile on her face until today.

"Why are you all staring at me?" she asks us and I feel the football hit me in the chest. When we all look in front of us she's standing there waiting for an explanation with her hands on her hips.

"Sorry short stuff. It's just we haven't seen you happy like this in months and it's nice to see." Dally tells her while wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"I do feel happy for once." she says with a smile while leaning into his side.

"We're all glad to hear that peanut." Darry says while smiling at her.

"I'm going to go swing for a bit." she says before unwrapping Dally's arm from around her and walking over to the swings.

"So the medicine must be working." Steve says as we all sit on the ground occasionally taking glances at Sky to make sure she's still on the swings.

"Yeah, it is." I say.

"Well, I don't think it's just the medicine. I think it's also because of how much chocolate cake she's eating." Darry says with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I mean she never stops eating the stuff." Pony says.

"She doesn't eat it all the time Pony. She just never stops stealing your piece." I say and ruffle his hair.

"Whatever." he says and pushes my hand away.

"I'm glad she got her smile back, I missed it." Dally says while looking over at her on the swings with a smile on his face.

"I am too." Darry says in agreement.

"Her smile is identical to your mom's." Two-bit says.

"Not just her smile. She looks just like your mom. Everything about her reminds me of your mom." Steve says.

"I know, she always was mom's mini me." I say with a chuckle.

"She got all of mom's looks and she got dad's stubbornness and feistiness." Darry says with a smile taking over his face as we all watch her just having fun on the swings.

"Hey Darry." we hear someone call out and when we look we see Tim coming towards us.

"Hey Tim, what's up?" Darry asks him.

"Have you guys been around any socs lately?" Tim asks us.

"No, why would we be around them?" I ask him not understanding why he's asking us this.

"Well, I overheard a group of socs talking about something yesterday that I think you guys all should know." Tim says.

"What did you hear?" Darry asks him.

"A certain soc named Carter is on his way back here and he'll be here by the end of the week." Tim says and that's when my whole world comes crumbling down around me.

"No way, there's no way that he'd come back here." he says in disbelief.

"Didn't Sky mention a couple weeks ago that his little brother warned her that Carter was coming back?" Dally pipes in.

"Yeah, she did. I just never thought that he would actually come back." I sigh.

"Well, if he is coming back then we can't let Sky find out." Darry says.

"You can't let me find out what?" we hear Sky ask from right behind us. We should've known that she'd hear something at some point I mean she has ears like a hawk.

"Oh, it's nothing peanut. Don't worry about it." he tells her.

"What are you hiding from me?" she asks not letting it go.

"We're not hiding anything from you." Dally says trying to get her to leave it alone.

"Wait a minute, you're all wearing the same look on your face that you did two years ago." she says and I can see it in her eyes that the gears are turning in her head and she's starting to put the pieces together.

"What look? There's no look on our faces." Two-bit says trying to play it cool but failing miserably at it.

"He's back, isn't he?" she asks sadly and with a little fear in her voice.

"Nobody is back baby girl." I lie to her.

"Please, don't lie to me. Carter's back, isn't he?" she asks again starting to get frustrated.

"He's not back yet Sky but I overheard some socs talking the other day and he'll be back here by the end of the week." Tim tells her.

"I'm going home. I need to be alone right now." she says before walking away from us.

"Sky, wait up." Dally calls after her but she just walks faster.

As we're trying to catch up to her I hear the squealing of tires coming around the corner and I see a blue mustang speeding down the street.

"Sky! Watch out!" I scream while running to try and get to her before the car can hit her.

"What?" she asks confused while turning around and facing us from where she stands in the cross walk.

"Get out of the road!" Dally screams at her but it's too late, we're all too late.

"Ahhh!" she screams right before the car runs over her. The car doesn't even stop after it's hit her. It just keeps speeding away.

"Peanut, come on peanut open your eyes." Darry begs her while getting on the ground and taking her limp body into his arms.

 **Sorry for the cliffhanger! Please review!**


	21. Chapter 20

_As we're trying to catch up to her I hear the squealing of tires coming around the corner and I see a blue mustang speeding down the street._

 _"Sky! Watch out!" I scream while running to try and get to her before the car can hit her._

 _"What?" she asks confused while turning around and facing us from where she stands in the cross walk._

 _"Get out of the road!" Dally screams at her but it's too late, we're all too late._

 _"Ahhh!" she screams right before the car runs over her. The car doesn't even stop after it's hit her. It just keeps speeding away._

 _"Peanut, come on peanut open your eyes." Darry begs her while getting on the ground and taking her limp body into his arms._

 **Darry's POV**

"Darry, how much longer is she going to be in there before somebody comes out to talk to us?" Soda asks me for probably the millionth time since we got to the hospital.

"I don't know Pepsi, I really don't." I say not really knowing what else to say to him.

Immediately after Sky was hit by the car we rushed her to the hospital. She wasn't breathing when we got here and I really thought that she was dead, we all did. Doctors and nurses surrounded us immediately and put her on a gurney. They rushed her out back and we weren't allowed to go out back with her. We've been sitting in the waiting room for hours waiting to hear something from the doctor. The only news we've been told was probably four or five hours ago when a doctor came out and told us that they had her stabilized. We were all so relived and wanted to see her but we couldn't because he said she was going into immediate surgery to fix the damage that was caused when the car ran her over.

I think we're all starting to go a little stir crazy and are frustrated because we haven't heard anything new yet. I think that Soda and Dally are taking it the hardest though. I mean we're all worried and scared about what's going to happen to Sky after she comes out of surgery but the two of them blame themselves for what happened to her. The two of them were right behind her and blame themselves for not being able to get to her fast enough.

"I should've stopped her. I should've been able to get to her in time." Soda says over and over again beating himself up.

"Pepsi, there was nothing you could've done. Stop blaming yourself because it's not your fault. Just be happy that she's still alive and that the car didn't kill her." I tell him while wrapping him in a hug.

"What if she doesn't make it Darry? If she doesn't make it I'll never forgive myself for not being able to protect her." he cries on my shoulder finally letting all the emotions he's been holding in out.

"Stop talking like that. I don't want to hear anymore what ifs come from your mouth. She's going to make it and we're all going to get through it together. I mean she's a Curtis after all and we never stop fighting and neither will Sky." I tell him.

"It should've been me. She didn't deserve to be hit by that car. If anyone deserves it, it's me. She's done nothing wrong to the world and I've done horrible things. Why is it always the good people who get hurt?" Dally asks while banging his head against the wall.

"You okay?" I ask Soda and after he nods his head and sits down I head over to deal with Dally.

"Stop it." I tell him sternly while pulling him away from the wall.

"Why?" he asks me harshly.

"I know you blame yourself for what happened and wish it was you but stop because there was nothing you could do." I tell him.

"I'm supposed to protect her and I couldn't." he sighs beating himself up like Soda is.

"Sky wouldn't want you doing this to yourself. If Sky wasn't in surgery right now she would be smacking you upside the head for what you're doing. So stop blaming yourself and just be happy that she's alive. Start focusing on what's really important, helping Sky get through this after surgery and after she's discharged from the hospital." I tell him.

"You're right, that's exactly what she'd be doing right now." he says with a chuckle as a memory of Sky doing that to him pops into his head which I can tell makes him feel a whole lot better.

"You okay now?" I ask him.

"I'm not okay. I won't be until I know what's going on with her and she's out of surgery, but I am done blaming myself. If I continue to then she's going to be disappointed in me and I never want her to be disappointed in me." he says while sitting down and I take a seat next to him.

"How you doing Pone?" I ask him when he comes and sits next to me while draping my arm across his shoulders.

"I'm numb. I can't even process what just happened to her right now." he says while resting his head on my shoulder.

"I know Pone, I know." I say softly while wrapping my arm around his shoulders.

"Darry?" he asks after we've just been sitting in silence for awhile.

"Yeah, Pone?" I ask him.

"I haven't felt this way since mom and dad died." he says.

"Oh Pone, I'm so sorry." I tell him.

"She's going to be okay, right?" he asks.

"Honestly, I don't know Pone. I really don't." I sigh not wanting to lie to him.

"I can't lose her Darry, she's my other half. If she dies then a part of me dies with her." he says getting up and walking away before I can say anything.

Please, please god, let her live. My family was almost completely torn apart when mom and dad died and it took everything I had to pull it back together. If she dies I don't think I'll ever be able to pull our family back together again.

* * *

It's been probably over five hours and we still haven't heard anything from the doctors about Sky's condition. Everyone is getting a little antsy and can't stop thinking that the worse has happened because of the lack of information.

I don't know how long I've been consumed in my inner thoughts but I am broken out of them by someone calling my name.

"Darry Curtis?" I hear and when I look up I see the doctor that came out hours before and told us that Sky was stable before they rushed her into surgery.

"Yes, how is my sister?" I ask him while standing up and going over to him and I can feel the presence of everyone else standing behind me.

"The surgery went well. We were able to repair the damage that was caused to her insides when the car hit her. Her injuries are pretty severe. She has four broken ribs, her left arm is broken, her right leg is broken and the bones in it are almost completely shattered, she has a serious concussion which caused her to have a petite mal seizure before we started the surgery. Your sister is very lucky that those are all the injuries she sustained. With how hard that car hit her it should've fractured her spine and she is very lucky that she will be able to walk hopefully with no major issues after her leg fully heals. She will be in a whole lot of pain for the next several months to a year. I have prescribed some pain meds for her and I will send those home with you when she is discharged in three days. I want to keep her here for observation before sending her home." he explains.

"So she's going to be okay?" Soda asks relieved.

"Yes, your sister will be okay." he says.

"Where is she now?" I ask.

"She is currently in a recovery room. She is still out cold but she should wake up in a couple hours." he says.

"Can we see her?" Dally asks him.

"I will allow all of you to go see her but I'm going to need everyone except for her immediate family to leave in an hour when visiting hours are over. You can come back tomorrow morning to see her." he says.

"Thank you so much doctor. I can't begin to thank you enough and tell you how grateful we all are that you were able to save her. We owe you everything." I thank him.

"You don't owe me anything, I'm just doing my job and what I was meant to do. Which is to save people." he says.

"What room is she in?" Pony asks getting impatient.

"Room 19. Go down the hall take your first right and it's at the end of the hall on your left." he tells us.

"Thank you so much." I thank him again while shaking his hand before we all head down the hall to go see Sky.

When we get in her hospital room we all gasp at the sight of her. She looks so small, I mean she is small for her age but she looks even smaller in that hospital bed and so lifeless. She is hooked up to so many wires and different machines and has so many casts and bandages covering her body that you can barely even see it. Her head is wrapped in bandages too and it just makes me so sad and I feel so bad that we couldn't save her before that car hit her. Soda, Pony, and I all pull chairs up on either side of her bed while the rest of the gang stands at the end of it just staring at her. When I look around at everyone I see tears gathered in all of their eyes, even in Dally's which is shocking. Although I'm not that surprised that he finally broke. Sky means the world to him just like she does to all of us but there is just a special unique different type of bond between the two of them that isn't like any of the ones she has with the rest of us. Sometimes I think their bond is even stronger than her and Soda's.

"Darry?" Pony asks breaking me out of my inner thoughts.

"Yeah Pone?" I ask while looking at him across the bed.

"She'll be okay right? I mean she's still going to be the same Sky right?" he asks needing that reassurance but I don't think I can give that to him.

"She's going to be okay but she's going to be somewhat different. A traumatic experience like this scars a person and I don't just mean physically. She'll get through it though and we'll all be right by her side the whole way to help her and give her the emotional support that she's going to need." I tell him.

We all just sit in silence not being able to take our eyes off of her because we don't want to miss the moment she wakes up. The only sound you can hear is the few sniffles from all of us every so often as we try our best to hold back our tears.

"I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over. I'm going to have to ask you all to leave." the doctor says probably an hour later while poking his head in the door.

"Okay, we're leaving now." Johnny says and moves around us to kiss Sky's bandage wrapped forehead before leaving the room. Two-bit and Steve do the same before going to wait out in the hallway with Johnny. Dally is the last one to leave the room. He walks over and kisses Sky's forehead and before he pulls away from her I hear him whisper something to her.

"I love you short stuff. I promise I'll be back first thing in the morning." he says before kissing her forehead again.

"We'll see you all in the morning. Please, get some rest, don't go out and do anything stupid. She wouldn't want you to." I tell him.

"I won't, we're all staying at your house tonight to make sure that none of us do." he tells me.

"Good, now go home and get some sleep." I tell him.

"We're going, we'll see you first thing in the morning." he says before leaving the room with everyone else.

For the rest of the night Pony, Soda, and I try our best to stay awake, we don't want to fall asleep and then have her wake up but by the time one in the morning rolls around its just too hard to keep our eyes open. So we all fall asleep in the chairs, Soda and I with our hands covering Sky's and Pony with his head resting on the edge of the bed by her legs. Hopefully she'll wake up by the time morning comes. That's the last thought I have before I'm completely gone.

 **Please review!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Sky's POV**

Darkness, nothing but darkness. All I can see is complete darkness all around me. I don't know where I am and my eyes feel like they are glued shut. No matter how hard I try I can't open them. I can't feel my body either, it doesn't even feel like I'm in my own body to be honest. It feels like I'm having an out of body experience. I don't know what happened to me to make me like this but whatever it was it had to have been really bad. I just wish I could open my eyes to see where I am. I continue to try and force my eyes open, using everything I have to make them open.

 **Soda's POV**

"Soda, Soda, wake up." I hear somebody telling me while shaking me somewhat.

"What? Did Sky wake up?" I ask sitting up and snapping my eyes open.

"No, not yet but the doctor said that she should soon so I thought you'd want to be awake when she does." Darry tells me while holding a soda out to me.

"Thanks." I say while taking it and then turn my attention back to Sky. I still can't believe that what happened yesterday really did happen. I was hoping that when I woke up it would've all just been a dream but it's not. My baby sister really did get hit by a car yesterday and has multiple broken bones and is going to have to be in a wheel chair for awhile until she gets her strength back and then she'll be able to use crutches to get around. I know that she's going to hate that and protest when she wakes up and the doctor tells her that she has to be in a wheel chair. I know that she's going to argue and say that she's fine and she can get around just fine using the crutches. She's just going to have to deal with it though because with her injuries there is no way that she'll be able to get around without a wheel chair.

"Has she woken up yet?" Dally asks as him and the rest of the gang come into the room. He meant it last night when he said that they would be back right when visiting hours started because it's eight in the morning on the nose right now. I think this is the first time that Dally has actually done what he said and been some where when he said he would. I shouldn't be surprised though because this has to do with Sky. He would go to the ends of the earth to protect her and keep her safe. I'm pretty sure if it came down to it he would risk his own life to save her.

"No, but the doctor said that she should soon." I tell him.

"Didn't he say that last night before we left?" he asks some what annoyed.

"Yeah, but she still hasn't. I mean she got hit by a car Dally and had a petite mal seizure during surgery. Her body is the weakest it's ever been right now. It's going to take her body time to gain some of it's strength back." I tell him.

"I know, I just want her to wake up. If she wakes up then I'll know that she's okay even though she has all these broken bones." he sighs while sitting down in the chair in front of her bed.

"She'll wake up soon, I know it. She's a fighter and I know that right now she is fighting to wake up and we'll all be right here when she does." I say before turning back and looking at Sky. I grab her hand in mine and give it a tight squeeze.

"You're going to be just fine baby girl. I know it." I whisper to her.

While we're all just sitting there in silence staring at Sky I all of a sudden feel her hand twitch in mine just the smallest bit.

"I think she's waking up." I say thrilled.

"She is?" Darry asks standing up from his seat on the other side of her bed.

"Her hand just twitched in mine. I think she's starting to wake up." I say.

"Peanut, if you can hear me please open your eyes. Please, I need to know that you're okay, we all do." Darry says while taking her other hand in his.

"Please, wake up Sky." Pony begs her.

 **Sky's POV**

Why won't my eyes just open? It shouldn't be this hard to open them. So why is it? I'm about to completely give up but when I try one last time my eyes finally open. When they do I am met with a very bright and blinding white light.

"Mhmm." I groan while closing my eyes again.

"Steve, turn the lights off. They're too bright." I hear somebody say and when I open my eyes again there is no longer a bright light blinding me but my vision is still blurry.

"Where am I?" I ask but my voice croaks out and sounds like a dying frog.

"Here baby girl, drink this." someone says and then there is a cup of water brought up to my lips. I take a large gulp of it before looking around my surroundings. My vision slowly starts to go back to normal and when it does I am met with seven people, boys to be correct staring back at me and two of them are holding my hands.

"Who are you?" I ask confused while prying my hands out of the two boys hands that are on either side of my bed and clutching them to my chest.

 **I'm sorry for the cliff hanger and shorter chapter but I thought that this was a good place to end it. I promise that the next chapter will be longer. So Sky doesn't know who any of her brothers are or who the gang is. I hope that you'll like that the drama is finally starting to make it's way into the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!**


	23. Chapter 22

_**Sky's POV**_

 _Why won't my eyes just open? It shouldn't be this hard to open them. So why is it? I'm about to completely give up but when I try one last time my eyes finally open. When they do I am met with a very bright and blinding white light._

 _"Mhmm." I groan while closing my eyes again._

 _"Steve, turn the lights off. They're too bright." I hear somebody say and when I open my eyes again there is no longer a bright light blinding me but my vision is still blurry._

 _"Where am I?" I ask but my voice croaks out and sounds like a dying frog._

 _"Here baby girl, drink this." someone says and then there is a cup of water brought up to my lips. I take a large gulp of it before looking around my surroundings. My vision slowly starts to go back to normal and when it does I am met with seven people, boys to be correct staring back at me and two of them are holding my hands._

 _"Who are you?" I ask confused while prying my hands out of the two boys hands that are on either side of my bed and clutching them to my chest._

 **Darry's POV**

"What do you mean 'who are you?'" I ask her confused.

"Why are you here? I don't know who you are." she says with a scared expression on her face and a terrified look in her eyes.

"Peanut, we're your brothers, we're all your family." I tell her while running my hand down the side of her face trying to reassure her but she just flinches away from me.

"Don't touch me! I don't know who you are!" she screams.

"Short stuff, please calm down." Dally tells her softly.

"Why do you keep calling me those names!? I don't know any of you! Get away from me!" she screams at the top of her lungs.

"Ba-"

"Somebody help me!" she continues to scream.

"What's going on in here?" her doctor asks coming into the room.

"I don't know any of these people!" she screams at the doctor.

"Okay, I need all of you to leave the room now, you're getting the patient all worked up." he says while rushing over to the machines that Sky is hooked up to as they all start to beep rapidly.

"Okay, we'll be right outside. Come on guys." I say while ushering everyone out of her room and shutting the door behind us.

 **Sky's POV**

"I need you to calm down or you're going to stress yourself out so much that you'll have another seizure." this man tells me calmly.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I ask him still very stressed and scared of what's going on around me.

"My name is Dr. Michael, and you're in the hospital." he tells me.

"Why?" I ask him starting to calm down somewhat, but I'm still scared of everything right now.

"Do you remember anything before you woke up?" he asks me while writing something down on a chart.

"No, I just remember waking up to all those people staring at me. What happened to me? Why am I hooked up to all these machines?" I ask him still confused.

"First, can you tell me your name?" he asks me.

"My name?" I ask confused as I try to wrack my brain for the answer to his question.

"Yes, your name. Do you know what it is?" he asks me again while writing something else on the chart.

"I-I-I don't know." I stutter while shaking my head back and forth.

"Do you know how old you are?" he asks me.

"N-No, how old am I?" I ask him getting more confused every second.

"Your full name is Skyler Elizabeth Curtis and you are fifteen years old." he tells me while continuing to write things down on the chart.

"Skyler? That's my name?" I ask him since everything still isn't registering with me.

"Yes, Skyler is your name." he tells me again with a nod of his head.

"What happened to me?" I ask him changing the subject while I still try to wrap my head around the fact that my name is Skyler.

"You were hit by a car and you hit your head really bad." he tells me.

"I-I was hit by a car?" I stutter and it feels like the wind was just knocked out of me.

"Yes, you were and you are very lucky to be alive right now." he tells me.

"Why does my body hurt so bad and why can't I feel my legs?" I ask him as I start to feel tears gather in my eyes.

"You have two broken ribs, a broken arm, a major concussion, and your left leg is broken which is why you can't feel it." he explains to me.

"Oh my god." I breathe out and my breathing starts to rapidly increase.

"It's okay, just calm down and breathe." he tells me calmly while putting his hand on my shoulder but I flinch away from him, but slowly my breathing starts to return to normal.

"Who were all of those people before that were staring at me?" I ask him.

"You don't remember who any of them are?" he asks me.

I just shake my head back and forth.

"The two guys that were holding your hands are your brothers, and the one at the foot of your bed was your other brother." he tells me.

"I have three brothers?" I ask him confused and shocked.

"Yes, you have three older brothers." he says with a nod of his head.

"What are their names?" I ask.

"Darry, Soda, and Ponyboy Curtis." he says.

"Soda? Ponyboy? I have a brother named Soda and one named Ponyboy?" I ask confused and shocked by their weird names.

"Yes, you do." he says while nodding his head at me.

"Who were those other people?" I ask him.

"Those were your friends, well they're basically your family." he says.

"Ow. My head hurts." I groan while clutching my head.

"Here, take these and they will help with the pain." he says while handing me two white pills and a cup of water. I slowly put the pills in my mouth and swallow them down with the water before giving the cup back to him.

"Why do I feel so tired?" I ask as my eyelids start to feel very heavy and all I want to do now is sleep.

"Those pills will make you sleepy and will kick in fast. Get some rest, you just took in a lot of information. I'll come back in a few hours to check on you." he says before heading for the door.

"Okay." I sigh before my eyes close completely and everything goes dark.

 **Soda's POV**

"What's wrong with her Darry? Why doesn't she remember any of us?" I ask him worriedly as my heart is basically breaking in two right now.

"I don't know pepsi, I really don't. We're just going to have to wait until Dr. Michael comes out and tells us what's going on." he says while running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"I'm sick of waiting for answers. I want to know what's wrong with short stuff and I want to know now." Dally says angrily while banging his fist against the wall. I've noticed throughout this whole ordeal that he's becoming more and more protective and devoted to Sky. I'm not sure how I feel about that but I know that it's just because she's like a little sister to him and he is really worried about her.

"Dal, you need to calm down. We'll get answers soon, you just have to wait a little longer." Johnny says while putting his hand on his shoulder trying to calm him down. If Sky isn't around then Johnny's the only other person who can at least calm him down a little bit.

"Dr. Michael, what's wrong with Sky?" I ask him the minute I see him come out of her room and shut the door behind him.

"The good news is that she will completely recover from this after treatment and spending eight to ten months in a wheel chair." he tells us.

"What's the bad news?" Darry asks him, knowing that bad news immediately follows good news.

"After examining and talking to your sister I have come to a conclusion and have diagnosed her." he says nervously while avoiding eye contact with all of us. Oh no, it has to be something bad for him to be acting like this. Please, don't let it be anything that we can't handle.

"What's her diagnoses?" Dally asks him.

"Your sister has a combination of post-traumatic amnesia, dissociative amnesia, and repressed memory." he says.

The minute those words leave his mouth that's when my whole world comes crashing down around me.

 **Hi everyone! I am so so so so so sorry for the extremely late update! I've been working my ass off for the past month trying to complete my final projects for the end of my fall semester at college. I've had to make over six curriculum binders within two weeks. I do have some good news though! Today was my last day of the semester! Which means that I am officially on winter break and you know what that means.?I will have so much free time and more time to write! During the time I'm on break I will update at least once a week and the only way that might not happen is when I go on my trip. But, my goal as of right now is to update once a week! I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much as I do and I hope that you're enjoying the direction I'm going with this story. Thank you for sticking with me through this story, you don't know how much that means to me! As always please review!**


	24. Chapter 23

_"Dr. Michael, what's wrong with Sky?" I ask him the minute I see him come out of her room and shut the door behind him._

 _"The good news is that she will completely recover from this after treatment and spending eight to ten months in a wheel chair." he tells us._

 _"What's the bad news?" Darry asks him, knowing that bad news immediately follows good news._

 _"After examining and talking to your sister I have come to a conclusion and have diagnosed her." he says nervously while avoiding eye contact with all of us. Oh no, it has to be something bad for him to be acting like this. Please, don't let it be anything that we can't handle._

 _"What's her diagnoses?" Dally asks him._

 _"Your sister has a combination of post-traumatic amnesia, dissociative amnesia, and repressed memory." he says._

 _The minute those words leave his mouth that's when my whole world comes crashing down around me._

* * *

"W-w-what?" I stutter out in shock. I need to make sure that I heard him right.

"Your sister has a combination of post-traumatic amnesia, dissociative amnesia, and repressed memory." he says again.

So I didn't hear him wrong. It's true, my sister really doesn't remember me, she doesn't remember who any of us are. I was hoping, I was praying that the only reason why she freaked out so much when she first woke up was because of what she had been through, but I was wrong. I don't know what to do with my life anymore, I just don't know what to do.

 **Darry's POV**

"Is she always going to be like this? Can she ever get her memories back?" I ask him trying to stay strong for everyone when in all reality I'm falling apart on the inside.

"It all depends. Some patients with your sister's type of amnesia get their memories back within a couple days or a few weeks, others it takes months to years, and some never get their memories back. Even the patients who do get their memories back they don't always get all of them back, they get a few or a percentage of them." the doctor explains.

"So there's a possibility that she might never get her memories back or truly remember who she is or who all of us are?" Dally asks him from where he's separated himself from all of us. I know that we're all taking this hard right now, but I think it's hitting him the hardest.

"Yes, sadly, there is a possibility that she might never get her memories back." he says.

"Are there any ways that we can help jog her memory so to say? To help her get them back?" Pony asks him while going over and wrapping his arms around Soda who has gone almost numb since we were given the news.

"My best advice is to just be there for her. I know that all of you are used to being around and close to each other all the time, but that is going to be too overwhelming for her. I mean you saw how she reacted earlier and we don't want that to happen again. Slowly introduce all of yourselves to her again, I know that it's going to be hard, but you have to remember that now it's going to be like Sky is meeting all of you for the first time in her life instead of knowing you all since the first day of her life. Give her time and space, and remember to take things slow. When you bring her home show her some old family photos, those have always helped jog peoples memories in the past, but every patient is different." he says.

"Okay, we'll make sure to do all of those things and keep that in mind." I say.

"Also, don't get upset or hurt if she remembers one of your friends first instead of you, Soda, or Pony who are her brothers. It's not uncommon for a patient who loses their memory to remember someone outside of the immediate family before anyone or anything else." he tells us.

"Okay." I say although I'll be devastated if she remembers who someone in the gang is before she remembers who Pony, Soda, or I is.

"When can we see her?" Soda asks breaking his silence, not being able to wait any longer.

"I don't want to send all of you back in to see her again and risk overwhelming her again. I'm going to just allow Darry, Soda, and Pony to go in and see her now. After they've gone in and she's okay with the three of them then the rest of you can go in and see her." he says.

"Okay, thank you so much doctor." I thank him before Pony, Soda, and I all start to head towards her room while the rest of the gang sit on the bench outside of it.

"Christmas is in three days, do you have any plans for it?" the doctor asks us before we can get in her room.

"No, not really. We haven't really 'celebrated' the holiday since our parents past away." Soda tells him.

"It's just a suggestion, but it might help Sky by all of you celebrating the holiday at home. Maybe how you did when your parents were still here?" he suggests.

"Do you think it would help her get her memories back?" Dally asks him speaking for the first time in awhile.

"I don't know if it will help get her memories back, but it might be just the boost she needs to get her out of the depressing state of mind she's in right now after everything she's been through." he says.

"Thanks doc, looks like for the first time in years the Curtis' are going to have a family Christmas again." Soda says.

"Yes!" Two-bit exclaims excitedly. Christmas was always his favorite holiday to celebrate with us when mom and dad were still alive. It wasn't the presents either because we didn't really do presents. I mean mom did get us each one gift, but it was just the fact that we all spent the day together doing old family traditions.

"Pepsi, we were already going to celebrate Christmas this year, I just hadn't told any of you yet." I tell them.

"What?" Pony asks surprised.

"Yeah, Sky has been begging me to have an actual Christmas like we used to this year and I promised her that we would." I say.

"Christmas pjs and all? Just like how it was with your mom and dad?" Two-bit asks.

"Yes." I say.

"Sweet!" he says even more excited now.

"Okay, can we go see her now? Please?" Soda begs.

"Yes, go on in and see her. I'll come by to check on her in a few hours. If everything looks good you should be able to take her home tomorrow." the doctor says before walking away.

"Okay, we'll come out and get you guys in a little bit after she's comfortable with us being in there." I tell the rest of the gang.

"Okay Darry, we'll be right here." Johnny says.

* * *

When we get in there Sky is sitting up and starring at us, watching our every move as we each pull a chair up on either side of her bed and sit down.

"Hey peanut, how are you feeling?" I ask her.

"Peanut? I thought my name was Sky?" she asks looking at me completely confused.

"Sky is your name, 'peanut' is just my nickname for you. I'm sorry I'll remember to call you Sky from now on. How are you feeling though?" I ask her again while kicking myself on the inside. She doesn't have her memories anymore Darry, she's not your Sky anymore you have to remember that.

"I'm okay, I guess." she says.

"Are you in any pain?" Soda asks her. I can tell that it's taking everything in him not to break down and cry in front of her right now. I'll have to pull him aside later and allow him to just let it all out so that he won't just hold it all in and eventually explode. That's where Sky and him are exactly alike, they both hold all their emotions in until one day they just explode.

"No, the doctor just gave me some meds." she says.

"Okay good." he says while giving her a small smile, but I can tell that it's completely forced.

"I'm sorry, but who are you guys?" she asks and I can tell by the look on her face that she feels bad that she doesn't know who we are when we all clearly know who she is.

"Don't apologize Sky, it's okay." I say trying to reassure her while smiling at her. She doesn't say anything and just nods her head slightly at me.

"I'm Ponyboy, but everyone calls me Pony or Pone and I'm your older brother." Pony tells her, introducing himself to her like the doctor said.

"I'm Sodapop, but everyone calls me Soda or Pepsi and I'm your other older brother, but I'm older than Pony." Soda tells her.

"I'm Darry and I'm your older brother also, but I'm the oldest out of all of us." I tell her.

"Okay, so I have three older brothers." she says.

"Yes, you do." I tell her.

"You called me by a nickname before, are there nicknames that I call you guys too?" she asks.

"Like everyone else you call me Soda, but sometimes you'll call me Pepsi." Soda tells her.

"You usually just call me Pony like everyone else does." Pony tells her.

"You're the only one that calls me Superman." I tell her.

"Why?" she asks.

"You gave me the nickname that's why." I tell her.

"Oh." she says. I'd tell her the story, but I think that's going to be too much for her right now.

We spend the next hour or so just talking about things like who we are to her, how old she is, telling her our names again because she forgot them, telling her what her name is, just simple facts about us and herself. We were going to have the rest of the gang come into see her, but she got really tired so we let her get some sleep. Right now she is getting some rest and Pony, Soda, and I are just sitting around her bed watching her sleep peacefully for the first time in a long time.

"Do you think the doctor will let us take her home tomorrow before Christmas?" Pony asks me quietly.

"Yeah, I think he will. As long as we follow everything he tells us to once we get her home." I say.

"I just want my baby girl back, I just want our Sky back." Soda says sadly.

"I know you do Pepsi, but it's going to take time if there's even going to be a chance at her getting her memories back. I know that she'll get her memories back though, I just know it." I tell him.

"How do you know?" he asks.

"She's a fighter and ultimately it's up to her if she gets her memories back or not. The Sky we know may not be at the forefront inside her right now, but she's still in there somewhere she just has to fight her way back to us." I explain.

"I hope you're right." he says.

"I'm always right." I say with a smirk and a quiet chuckle. He doesn't say anything and just rolls his eyes at me.

"I think celebrating Christmas will help her get through all of this. I'm glad that we're celebrating it this year Darry." Pony says.

"Me too." I say.

For the rest of the night we just sit there occasionally talking while keeping an eye on her. We let the gang come in for a little bit, but I ended up sending them home to get some rest and told them to come back in the morning when the doctor will hopefully release her. I know that it's highly unlikely that she'll get her memories back just because we're celebrating Christmas, but I'm hoping that it will at least put a smile on her face. That's all I want for Christmas, is to see a smile on Sky's face.

 **I know that Christmas is over, but the next chapter will be everyone celebrating Christmas together. (Curtis style) Sorry for another late update, but with the holidays and everything I just haven't had the time to finish this chapter until now. I'm trying my hardest to get the chapters written and uploaded in a timely manner, but sometimes life gets in the way. I want to thank all of you who are still sticking with me and my story once again, I can't even tell you how much that means to me. So thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always please review!**

 **I have a question for all of you. A lot of you like how much more devoted Dally is becoming towards Sky. I'm thinking of doing a chapter from Dally's point of view on how he took the news of Sky's diagnosis. I would post it before the Christmas chapter. What do you think? Let me know what you all think in your reviews and if you have any ideas!**


	25. Chapter 24

**Dally's POV**

"Guys, I'm going to go get some air." I tell everyone.

"Okay Dal, we'll all be here." Two-bit says.

"Don't do anything stupid. She's going to be okay. It's going to take some time, but she'll come back to us. Just because she doesn't have her memories doesn't mean that they're not in there somewhere. Remember that the Sky we all know wouldn't want you to do anything stupid because of her. She'll be so disappointed in you if you do." Johnny tells me, trying to reassure me that everything will be okay, but it won't.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm just going to go get some air. I promised her that I would never do anything that would result in me being taken away from her. Just because she doesn't have her memories it doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep that promise. That's the one promise that I've made with someone and meant it. Every promise I make her is one that I will always keep. She means everything to me." I tell them before turning around and walking down the hall towards the back entrance of the hospital. Once I'm outside and the cool air hits my face I immediately feel a little better. I walk away from the door a bit and just stand there leaning up against the wall.

I can't help but think of Sky as I watch the sun starting to set. I can't even count the number of times I've sat outside and watched the sunset with her through the years and sometimes with both her and Pony. I remember one of my favorite memories of watching the sunset with Sky. It was a couple days after we got the news about her parents. Darry, Soda, and Pony were out dealing with some court stuff and Darry asked me to watch Sky while they were gone since she was only eleven at the time.

 _Flashback_

 _"Hey short stuff." I say while coming through the door, but when I get inside I don't see her anywhere._

 _"Sky! Where are you?" I holler out through the house while I start looking in the different rooms of the house. As I get closer to the bedrooms I hear the sound of what can only be Sky's cries._

 _"Oh Sky." I sigh when I go into the bedroom she shares with Pony and Soda. I sit down on the bed next to her where she's laying there crying her eyes out with her head stuffed into her pillow._

 _"Come on, talk to me short stuff." I beg her when I don't get a response from her while rubbing my hand up and down her back._

 _"I want mommy and daddy back." she cries while turning her face and looking at me. My heart breaks in two when I see all the tears running down her face. I never feel any emotion ever because that's just not me. When it comes to Sky though, that's the only time the box I keep around my emotions breaks open and they all come out._

 _"I know you do short stuff. I do too." I tell her while moving her hair out of her face and trying to wipe away some of her tears. It's useless though because more just keep falling._

 _"Why'd they have to go? Why did they get taken from us?" she asks as a sob wracks her body._

 _"I don't know short stuff, I really don't. Come here." I tell her while holding my arms out to her. She doesn't even hesitate before sitting up and throwing herself into my open arms. I wrap my arms around her while holding her tightly and running my fingers through her hair trying to calm her down._

 _"I know that their gone short stuff, but you still have so many people who are here for you, who love you so much, and who would never leave you." I whisper to her as her cries start to die down a bit._

 _"You'll never leave me again, right?" she asks quietly while pulling back and looking at me._

 _I don't answer her right away because I'm not sure if I can give her the answer she wants to hear._

 _"You left for New York four years ago and you didn't come back till last year. You didn't call, you didn't write, none of us knew where you were or even if you were still alive. I cried everyday that you were gone. You can't leave me again, you just can't. I already lost mommy and daddy. I can't lose you too." she says as more tears start to fall down her face._

 _Still I sit here silent because I don't want to give her an answer that I might not mean._

 _"If you leave me again I'm going to run away and never come back." she tells me sternly while crossing her arms in front of her chest._

 _"Okay, I won't leave you again." I tell her._

 _"No, you have to promise me." she says sternly._

 _"I promise you that I will never ever leave you again." I promise her while holding my pinky finger out to her and she wraps hers around mine. It's something we've always done when telling each other that we'll do something or that we'll never do something again._

 _"Good. I love you Dally and I can't lose you. You're apart of this family, you're not just apart of it when you want to be either, you're apart of it for good." she says while wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me tight._

 _"I love you too short stuff. Now come on." I tell her while lifting her up off the bed and placing her on her feet._

 _"Where are we going?" she asks while taking my hand as I hold it out to her._

 _"You'll see." I say while leading her outside and sitting down on the swing._

 _"What are we doing?" she asks confused while sitting down next to me._

 _"Look at the sky." I tell her while pointing in front of me._

 _"Wow, it's so beautiful." she gasps while looking forward and realizing why I brought her out here. One of her favorite things to do is to watch the sunset._

 _"Yeah, it is." I say in agreement._

 _"Do you think mommy and daddy are looking down on us? Do you think they can see us?" she asks._

 _"Yeah, I do short stuff." I tell her while wrapping my arm around her shoulders._

 _"How do you know?" she asks._

 _"Look at the sunset Sky, look at how bright it is. Your mom loved watching sunsets as much as you and Pony do. Whenever she would watch one with you guys it always seemed like that sunset was a little brighter than the others from the days before. Just remember that even though they're gone your parents are always with you Sky. If you need a reminder of that just look out and watch the sunset. Think of it kind of like a window that they're looking through and watching you to make sure you're safe even though they're gone." I explain to her._

 _"Wow." she sighs while looking up at me._

 _"What?" I ask her confused._

 _"I didn't know that you could be that deep Dally." she says while smiling at me._

 _"Only with you Sky, only with you. If you ever tell the gang or anyone else about this emotional side of me you'll regret it." I tell her sternly._

 _"Why do you only show your emotions with me?" she asks confused._

 _"When you were four years old you taught me what it meant to really love someone. You taught me that love isn't someone constantly beating on you which was all I knew it to be at the time. You're the only person who was able to break down my walls even though I tried so hard to stop you from doing so. No one else in the gang has been able to do that so there's no need for me to show my emotions around anyone else, but you." I explain to her._

 _"Who knew that even at four years old I had so much power over you. I guess from day one I had you wrapped around my finger and I still do." she says with a smirk and a giggle._

 _"Whatever. Plus, you're the only person that will call me on my bullshit and won't let it go until I talk to you." I tell her with a chuckle._

 _"Yup." she says popping the p at the end and giggling again._

 _"Is it okay if we stay out here until Darry, Soda, and Pony get home?" she asks._

 _"Yeah, we can stay out here as long as you want short stuff." I tell her and kiss the top of her head._

 _She then moves so that her head is resting on my lap as we continue to watch the sunset. I run my fingers through her hair trying to sooth her and hoping that maybe it will put her to sleep. Over the past few days the most she's slept is four hours and I know that she's exhausted, but she's just too scared to close her eyes to go to sleep because every time she does she sees her parents being taken away from her all over again._

 _"Goodnight mommy and daddy. I love you." she whispers as the sun fully sets._

 _"Goodnight Dally." she whispers to me._

 _"Goodnight short stuff, I love you." I tell her._

 _"I love you too." she whispers around a yawn and then her breathing evens out and I know that she's asleep._

* * *

I'll never forget that day with Sky. It was one of the first times she opened up about how she was feeling about her parents. She kind of shut down after we all got the news. Even after that night she shut down again. I think the only reason why she opened up and came out of her fog was because she was physically and emotionally exhausted. That was the first time I realized that Sky isn't as tough as we all think she is. She may be a greaser like all of us and she knows how to throw a punch, to defend herself, to stand up for herself, to protect the ones she cares about, and so much more. Behind that tough outer wall she keeps around herself though is just a little girl that honestly had to grow up too fast. We all tried our best to make the situation better and to remind her that she was still just a kid and she still is, but that didn't really work. I made myself a promise that day that I would always be there for her whether it was as her friend, her brother, her punching bag when she needed to let her anger out, her shoulder to cry on, I'd be anything that she needed and I still am.

Sometimes the connection I have with Sky scares me because of how strong it is. I mean when she's in pain I'm physically in pain too. I remember when I first found out that she was in the hospital because she tried to kill herself. When I got that news it felt like I was dying with her and if she had succeeded and died that night I would've died with her. If she's not on this earth then I have no reason to be on it either because she is the reason why I'm still here.

I guess it's time for me to go back inside, I've sulked enough. Maybe by now I'll be able to see her. Even though it will be hard for me to see her like that and know that she doesn't remember me or who any of us are I have to do it. She may not remember me, but I remember her and the promise I made her and I'm going to keep it whether she has her memories or not.

I just have to remember what Johnny told me earlier. The Sky we know is still in there somewhere, we just have to help her through this and pray that she'll come back to us over time. I'm going to do everything and anything I can to help bring her back to us. Don't worry short stuff, I'll help you come back to us and I will be right here by your side the whole time until you do.

 **Please review!**


	26. Chapter 25

**Darry's POV**

Sky's been in the hospital for a couple days now and today she is finally getting released. I'm so happy that she's being released before Christmas even though it's only a day away. When we leave the hospital at night the gang and all of us have been working non stop to get everything ready. We got a Christmas tree and put it up in the living room. We decorated it with old and new family pictures that we took out of the photo albums. I'm hoping that this will help Sky remember at least a little part of not only who she is, but who all of us are. We really only got presents for Sky because we want to make this as special as we can for her. Each of us got her something that is her favorite to also help her hopefully remember something about herself.

"We're all ready to go. Let's go get baby girl and bring her home." Soda says coming down the hallway with a bag that we put some clothes in for Sky to wear home.

"Okay everyone, let's go." I say as we all head out and get in the car and start on the drive to the hospital.

When we get to the hospital we all head inside and first meet up with Sky's doctor to talk to him about Sky's current condition.

"Hi, doc." I say when we meet up with him in the hallway outside of Sky's room.

"Hi, how are all of you?" he asks.

"We're good. How is Sky?" I ask.

"She seems to be doing well. We took some more x-rays and her ribs are starting to heal a little bit. Her leg also looks a little better although she's still going to have to be in a wheelchair for awhile until her leg heals enough where she can get around on crutches." he says.

"How is her amnesia? Has she remembered anything at all?" Dally asks.

"She still has no recollection of anything about herself or any of you. She's forgotten her own name a couple of times recently." he explains.

"Do you have any idea if she will ever regain any of her memories?" Soda asks.

"At this point I can't give you any definitive answer. I don't want to give you false hope incase she doesn't get her memories back because I don't know for sure if she ever will. I'm hoping and praying though with every bone in my body that she will recover from this and be able to remember who she is and who all of you are." he says.

"Well, thank you for being honest with us." I thank him.

"Can we go see her and take her home now?" Pony asks.

"Yes, we already filled out all of the discharge papers for her and you can take her home whenever you're ready to. I will send a nurse in shortly to help her change into different clothes because she's not going to be able to do it on her own. I will also send a wheelchair in for her along with all of her medications." he says.

"Thank you so much doctor. I can't even begin to describe how grateful we all are for everything you've done to save Sky and make sure that she will recover from her injuries. If it wasn't for you my baby sister wouldn't be alive right now, so thank you." I thank him.

"Don't thank me I was just doing my job." he says while shaking all of our hands before leaving us to go get Sky ready to go home.

 **Sky's POV**

I've just been sitting here in this bed for a few days now and all I do all day long is either sleep or stare out the window. I want to get out of here so bad, but I'm nervous to go to wherever home is because I don't think that I'm going to be comfortable there. I'm also nervous to be living with these three boys who are my brothers that I don't remember who they are or even know them. I'm also nervous about everyone else in our so called gang because I don't know them either. A knock at the door is what breaks me out of my inner thoughts.

"Come in." I say and then all of my brothers and the gang come into the room.

"Hey ba-, I mean Sky. How are you feeling?" one of the boys asks and I think he's one of my brothers.

"I'm feeling okay. You're Soda, right?" I ask nervously hoping that I'm right.

"Yeah." he says as a small smile makes it's way onto his face.

"We're here to take you home. Are you ready to get out of here and back home?" who I think is Darry asks me.

"Yeah, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I'm nervous though." I tell them.

"Don't be nervous Sky, you're going to be just fine." he reassures me.

"Okay." I say blowing out the breath I didn't know I was holding in.

"We brought you some clothes so that you'll be more comfortable to go home." someone who I think is Dally or maybe Darren, I'm not quite sure says.

"Thanks." I say and then there's another knock at the door.

"Come in." I say and a girl who I surprisingly recognize as my nurse comes in.

"Hi, Sky, I'm here to help you change into your clothes and get into the wheelchair so that you can go home." she says while wheeling a wheelchair over to the side of my room.

"Okay." I say with a slight nod of my head.

"We'll be right outside Sky." the same guy says while rubbing my shoulder, but I flinch away from him because physical contact with all of them still makes me feel uneasy.

Before they all leave the room one of them hands the nurse a bag which I'm guessing has my clothes in it. After shutting the door the nurse comes over to the side of my bed and takes the clothes out of the bag. First she helps me sit up and helps me out of the hospital gown before slowly helping me put on the purple long sleeve shirt that says number one greaser on it in black letters.

"What does number one greaser mean?" I ask the nurse confused by it.

"You, your brothers, and the gang are all greasers. Our town is split up into the greasers and the socs. The socs are the richy rich people who live in nice houses and in the nice part of town. The greasers are the poorer people who live in the bad parts of town. The greasers and socs are natural enemies and often get in fights with each other." she explains to me.

"So I'm a greaser?" I ask her.

"Yes, you are. You're one of the only girl greasers." she says.

"Okay." I say not really knowing what else to say.

After she helps me put on a pair of loose black sweatpants that just barely fit over the cast on my leg. The sweatpants have a white stripe down the sides of both legs and have a heart on the hip.

"Okay, you're all set. Now all we have to do is help you into the wheelchair." she says while crossing the room and wheeling it over right up to the side of my bed.

"Okay." I say while trying to brace myself to get out of this bed for the first time in days.

"I'm going to slowly move your legs over the side of the bed before sliding you out of it and into the wheelchair." she says while lowering the bed down so that it's leveled with the wheelchair. She then slowly moves my legs over the side of the bed before carefully sliding me off the bed and into the wheelchair. She puts the the pedals down that I put my feet on and then buckles me into the wheelchair because I am so small.

"Thank you." I thank her as she wheels me out of the room and into the hallway.

"Your welcome." she says before leaving me with my brothers and the gang.

"Ready to go home Sky?" who I think is Pony asks me.

"I guess." I say as one of them gets behind the wheelchair and starts wheeling me out of the hospital. Once out in the parking lot they help me into the car before one of them starts driving us all home. After what only seems like a few minutes we pull into a dirt driveway in front of a small house with a porch on the front of it.

"Welcome home Sky." one of the boys says and I think his name is Two-bit. I think I only remembered that name because it's so weird.

Two of my brothers help me out of the car and into the wheelchair before wheeling me up to the steps and then lifting me up over them and wheeling me inside. Once inside I look around and see that we're in a living room and next to it is what looks like a kitchen. I see a hallway which I'm guessing is where the bedrooms are and the bathroom.

"What do you think Sky? Does any of this look familiar?" who I now realize is Dally asks me.

"No, not really. I'm sorry." I say feeling bad that I don't recognize anything about this house.

"It's okay Sky, don't feel bad." he says.

"What's that?" I ask noticing a tree in the corner of the room.

"It's a Christmas tree. Christmas is tomorrow so we thought by celebrating it this would help you feel better." Soda says.

"What are those on it?" I ask while slowly wheeling myself in front of the tree.

"They're family pictures throughout the years. We thought they would help you remember some things." he says.

"Can I look at them?" I ask.

"Yeah, go ahead." he says. I reach out and grab the picture that's right in front of me off of the tree.

"Who are they?" I ask looking at the middle aged man and woman who have their arms wrapped around each other.

"Those are our parents." Pony tells me.

"Where are they?" I ask.

"Um, sadly they died in a car crash a few years ago." he tells me with a sad look on his face.

"Oh." I say sadly and feel awful that I don't even remember who my own parents are.

After looking at a couple more pictures I start to feel tired.

"Can I go to bed? I'm tired." I ask as a loud yawn escapes my lips.

"Yeah, of course Sky. I'll show you where your room is." Darry says.

 **Soda's POV**

Darry, Pony, and I all wheel Sky down the hallway to her room. We moved all of her stuff into the guest room. We decided to give Sky her own room because we thought that it would make her more comfortable than sharing a room with Pony and I since she doesn't remember who any of us are and still is somewhat uncomfortable around us all.

"Here's your room." I say.

"It's nice." she says while looking around and taking it all in.

Darry and I then help her out of the wheelchair and into the bed before pulling the covers over her.

"Goodnight Sky." I tell her and go to kiss her forehead like I always do, but then I decide against it because I don't want to make her uncomfortable.

"Goodnight." she says while closing her eyes. We all then leave the room and shut the light off on our way out while closing the door behind us.

* * *

 **The next morning: Christmas Day**

When I wake up in the morning I'm am so excited to celebrate Christmas. I'm hoping that this will help boost not only Sky's, but all of our spirits and make us all feel better. I throw the covers off of me and get out of bed and then walk down the hall to Sky's room.

"Sky, are you up?" I ask while knocking on her door.

"Yeah." she says.

"Can I come in?" I ask.

"Yeah." she says again. I open the door and go inside.

"Merry Christmas." I say.

"Merry Christmas." she says back.

"Are you ready to get up?" I ask her.

"Yeah, can you help me?" she asks.

"Of course." I say while helping her sit up and then slide out of the bed and into her wheelchair.

"Thanks." she says while I wheel her out of the room and down the hall into the living room.

"Merry Christmas." everyone says.

"Merry Christmas." Sky and I say.

"Are you ready to open your presents Sky?" Darry asks her.

"You guys got me presents?" she asks.

"Of course we did Sky." Pony tells her while handing her the present that he got her. She takes it and slowly starts unwrapping it and opening the box.

"Do I like to read?" she asks while looking at the two books. One is _A Wrinkle in Time_ and the other is _Where the Red Fern Grows_ those are two of Sky's favorite books of all time.

"Yeah, you read all the time. You're a major book nerd just like I am. Those are two of your favorite books." he tells her.

"Well, thanks. Even though I don't remember that I like to read or that I like these books I'll read them." she says.

"Your welcome." he says while smiling at her.

"Here Sky, this one is from me." Two-bit says while handing her another present.

She takes it from him and slowly starts unwrapping it. When it's fully unwrapped she reveals a black hat that says on the front of it number one greaser in rhinestones.

"You wear hats all the time and you hold the title of number one greaser so I thought it was the perfect gift for you." he tells her.

"Thanks." she says while putting it on her head.

He doesn't say anything and just smiles at her.

Steve gives her his present next which is a necklace made out of old bottle caps.

"Thank you." she thanks him.

"Your welcome Sky. Now you have a matching necklace to go with the bracelet I made you out of bottle caps for your birthday two years ago." he says.

"Here Sky, this one is from me." Johnny says while handing her his present. When she opens it she reveals a picture book of them at school and her running track.

"I play a sport?" she asks confused.

"Yeah, you and Pony have ran track together since you started high school." I tell her.

"Am I any good at it?" she asks.

"Yeah, you hold the school record for the fastest time running a 5k." Pony tells her.

"That's cool." she says with a smile on her face for the first time since her accident.

Dally gives her his present next which is a snow globe with a picture of a sunset inside of it. Engraved on the front of it is 'Merry Christmas Sky. Love Dally'.

"It's beautiful Dally. Thank you." she thanks him with a smile still on her face.

"Your welcome Sky." he says while smiling back at her.

"Here Sky." I say while handing her my present. When she unwraps it she reveals a framed picture of the first ever picture I took with her after she was brought home from the hospital. Underneath that framed picture is another one with a picture of us when she helped me fix up that old car and both of us are covered in oil and grease. We look like true greasers.

"How old was I in this picture?" she asks while pointing at the one when we were little.

"You were about three months old." I tell her.

"Really? I look so small." she asks.

"You were because she were born three months early, you almost died." I tell her.

Oh, I'm glad I didn't." she says while still looking at the picture.

"We all are." I say.

"Thank you Soda, I love them." she says while smiling at me and it makes me so happy to see her smiling so much.

"Your welcome." I say.

"Sky, for my present we have to go out in the backyard." Darry tells her.

"Okay." she says.

"Here, put your coat on Sky, it's cold outside." Pony tells her while helping her put it on.

"Thanks." she thanks him after she has it on. Darry then gets behind her wheelchair and wheels her through the house and out into the backyard.

"What's that?" she asks when she sees the playhouse like building right next to her tree.

"You love to have your own space to be alone and usually you climb up your tree to be alone, but since you can't do that because of your injuries I decided to build you a playhouse as a new place for you to get away from everyone and just be alone." Darry tells her.

"Wow." she says in awe of it.

"Do you like it?" he asks her.

"Like it? I love it. Thank you." she says still smiling.

"I'm so glad." he says smiling right back at her.

"Did you enjoy your first Christmas Sky?" I ask her once we're all back inside. Since she doesn't have her memories it is kind of like her first Christmas all over again.

"Yeah, it made me feel a little better even though I don't have my memories. Thank you so much for this." she thanks us all.

"Don't thank us Sky, we'd do anything to help you through this. We're going to do everything we can to try and help you get your memories back." Dally tells her.

"Even though I don't remember who any of you are really I feel so grateful to have so many people that care about me so much." she says while smiling at all of us.

"We're so thankful to have you too Sky. We all love you so much." I tell her.

We spend the rest of the day watching Mickey and telling Sky stories about some of our favorite memories with her throughout the years. When Two-bit tells a story about his favorite memory with her she actually laughs for the first time. I feel so happy that we were able to lift Sky's spirits a little bit today and bring a smile to her face by celebrating this holiday with her. We all love her so much and I know that one day she will get her memories back, I just know it.

 **I'm so sorry for the really late update. I've just been really busy and have been in and out of the hospital and had so many doctor appointments. I'm having a lot of problems with my body right now so I just haven't had the time to write because I've been focusing on getting to the route of my problems and feeling better. I finally found the time to write though and I hope you enjoy this long chapter. I know that it's way past the Christmas season, but this is my story after all and I promised you a Curtis style Christmas so I had to deliver it. I hope you like this chapter and I'll try to update the next chapter sooner. Thank you all who are sticking with my story it makes me so happy that people are reading my story and liking it. As always please review hearing your feedback and reviews always makes my day. Until next time. :)**


	27. Chapter 26

**Sky's POV**

Christmas was a few days ago and since then things have been going well. As well as they can be since I still don't have any of my memories back. Everyone is being so understanding and patient, but I can tell that they are getting frustrated just like I am.

Currently I'm just sitting in my room having my own little pity party. I just want my memories back. All of a sudden I get this horrible pain in my head.

"Ahh!" I scream while clutching my head and curling my body in on itself. I squeeze my eyes shut hoping that it will take away some of the pain, but it doesn't.

All of a sudden all of these pictures start flashing through my mind. Are they some of my memories?

 _Flashback_

 _"Stop!" I see just barely a girl screaming while on the ground on her hands and knees._

 _"Shut up bitch and take it all!" a guy that I can just barely see screams at the girl while knocking her upside the head._

 _"Please, stop!" the girl screams again. Is that me? It can't be._

 _"You know you like it." the guy growls at her._

 _"No, I don't." the girl cries and as the pictures start becoming clearer I finally see the girl completely._

 _Oh my god, that is me. What the hell happened to me? What the hell is he doing to me? I can't tell, but I know that it can't be anything good._

* * *

My eyes all of a sudden snap open and the images disappear from my mind and the pain in my head goes away as quick as it came. What the hell was that? Was that some of my memories coming back? Did I really go through that?

 **Darry's POV**

The gang and all of us are out in the living room just relaxing when all of a sudden we hear a blood curdling scream come from Sky's room.

"What the hell?" I say worriedly while getting up and rushing down the hallway with everyone following behind me.

"Sky, are you okay in there?" I ask while knocking on her door.

When I don't get a response I decide to just go into her room. When I get in there I see her on her bed hugging her knees to her chest.

"Sky, what happened?" I ask her while getting down on my knees and gently placing my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she screams while jerking away from me.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I apologize to her while taking my hand off of her.

"What happened Sky?" Soda asks her while kneeling down on the floor next to me and Pony does too.

"I got this awful pain in my head and then all these images started to flash through my mind. Could they be some of my memories coming back?" she asks confused while sitting up and just barely looking at us.

"What did you see Sky?" I ask her.

"I just barely was able to make out a girl at first." she says.

Oh no, this definitely isn't going to be a good memory. I think to myself.

"She was on her hands and knees and it was dark out. Then I saw this guy behind her. He was screaming at her and clearly hurting her because she was crying for him to stop whatever he was doing. When she wouldn't stop crying he hit her upside the head hard. As he continued to hurt her I could finally make her out fully. The girl was me. Did that really happen to me? Why was that guy hurting me?" she asks us confused with tears streaming down her face.

"Sky, I don't think you'll be able to handle it. I think it will overwhelm you." Soda tells her.

"If that stuff really happened to me I deserve to know." she says.

"I'm not going to tell you everything." I sigh while running a hand through my hair.

"Can you at least tell me something?" she almost begs.

"Fine. Let's just say that a couple years ago you went through something horrible." I tell her.

"If it's as bad as you're saying it is then I don't want to know." she says while shaking her head back and forth.

"If you get some more of your memories back then we will tell you the story behind them." I tell her.

"Okay." she sighs as more tears start to flow down her face.

"How can we fix this Sky? How can we make you feel better?" Soda asks her.

"I don't know. Could one of you maybe hug me? I don't know if it will make me feel better, but I want to see if I'll be able to handle the physical contact." she says nervously.

"Okay Sky, just tell me if you feel uncomfortable." I tell her and she just nods her head at me.

I slowly reach forward and wrap my arms around her waist. At first her whole body tenses up at the physical contact, but then it starts to relax a bit.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah." she says softly and surprises me by wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me back and rests her head on my shoulder. I think she's slowly starting to become more comfortable around us.

"Do you feel a little better?" I ask her after a few minutes when she unwraps her arms from around me and I unwrap mine from around her waist.

"Yeah, just a little. I want to get those pictures out of my mind though. I think I'm going to lay down for awhile if that's okay." she says while crawling under the covers.

"Of course it is. We'll leave you be." I tell her while getting up and we all start to head out the door.

"Dally?" she quietly asks.

"Yeah?" he asks while turn back around to face her.

"Can you stay with me? she asks him.

"Of course." he says while going back into the room and sitting down in her desk chair.

"Thank you." she says.

"You don't have to thank me Sky, I'd do anything for you." he tells her.

"We'll see you guys later." I say while shutting the light off and shutting the door behind me.

"Of all the memories she had to remember it had to be the beginning of when she was tortured by those three creeps." Pony sighs as we all sit down in the living room.

"I know. I wish she would've remembered anything but that." I sigh while leaning back in my recliner and closing my eyes.

God, please help her get some more of her memories back, but just not those ones. I don't think she'll be able to handle it and she'll shut down again. Please, don't let her. I silently beg and I feel a single tear fall down my face.

 **Sorry for the super late update, but I am still having major health problems and I haven't been allowed to go on the computer until now because it bothered me so much. I hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm sorry that it's shorter than normal, but I just can't handle being on the computer any longer. Please review! Once again I'm so sorry!**


	28. Chapter 27

I know it's been forever since I last updated and I'm sorry that this isn't an update, but I am working on some new chapters. They are just taking me longer than I would like to write because of my health issues. I'm not allowed to be on the computer or tablet or even my phone for a long amount of time because it's a trigger for some of my problems. It sucks because I go to college and all my work is online, but I'm working through it. I want to thank all of you for being so patient with me throughout this time. It really means a lot to me. I do plan on finishing this story so don't worry about that! It just may take me a while to do so and the length of time between updates will vary. At this point I can't say exactly how long it will be between updates. I hope you can understand that and if you can't then I'm sorry.

Separate from this I have an idea for the story and I wanted to run it by all of you. Would you be for or against it if I decided to have something blossom between Dally and Sky? Let me know in a review!

-Sabe96


	29. Chapter 28

**Dally's POV**

At some point while I'm keeping an eye on Sky as she sleeps I fall asleep. The minute sleep over takes me I am transported into a dream which is weird because I don't usually have dreams. I mean I've had nightmares a few times ever since Sky went through all of that and I almost lost her, except in the nightmares I really do lose her.

 _Where am I? I think as I walk around the big open field._

 _"Dally." I hear a voice I'd know anywhere say even though she's been gone for all these years._

 _"Mrs. Curtis?" I ask while turning around towards the sound of her voice and when I do I see her standing directly in front of me._

 _"Yes, Dally, it's me." she says while smiling at me._

 _"How? How is this possible?" I ask confused._

 _"It's your dream Dally, anything is possible." she says._

 _"Why are you here though? Why am I dreaming about you?" I ask her still confused._

 _"You need help, that's why. You feel lost again and helpless." she says._

 _"What do you mean?" I ask her even though I know exactly what she's referring to._

 _"All you want to do is help Sky get her memories back and nothing you're doing seems to be working. You're starting to get frustrated. You're not the only one who's frustrated though, Sky is frustrated with herself and that she still can't remember anything except for that short flashback of what she went through." she says._

 _"I just don't know what to do. I feel so helpless. We've shown her pictures and taken her to some of her favorite places, but nothing seems to be working. I'm starting to think that she's never going to get her memories back and that I've lost her forever. I've lost my short stuff and I've also lost myself because without her I'm nothing." I sigh._

 _"You haven't lost her Dally, you'll never lose her. She'll remember soon enough, it's just going to take a little more time. She has to have the inner strength to fight to get her memories back, but her inner conscious also has to fight." she says._

 _"What do you mean?" I ask her once again confused._

 _"In a way Sky's inner conscious left her body when she got hit by that car, and now her inner conscious is scared to return to her because of everything bad that has happened to her." she explains._

 _"How do I get her conscious to come back to her though? I don't understand." I ask still confused._

 _"I know that none of you want to tell her about all the horrible things that happened to her, but those are a big part of her memories and they are a part of her. You're going to have to tell her at some point. Try taking her to visit us, let her talk to us like she always used to when she was in trouble or scared. Watch the sunset with her and remind her of how much she loves them, remind her of all the happy times she had watching them with you and Pony and everyone in the gang. Try to put that smile that lights up a room and brightens anyone's day back on her face. I miss seeing that smile so much. I miss seeing my little girl happy." she says._

 _"I'll do it all. I'll do anything and everything in my power to get my short stuff back. I promise you that soon you'll be able to see your little girl happy again with that beaming smile on her face." I tell her._

 _"I know you will Dally. Now, you have to go. Sky's starting to wake up and she's going to need you." she says._

 _"Okay. I miss you Mrs. Curtis and I wish you were still here with us." I sigh._

 _"I may not be there with you all anymore, but I'll always be watching over you." she says while smiling at me and then she disappears._

When I open my eyes I'm back in Sky's room. I turn my head to check on her and see that she's whimpering and thrashing around in the bed.

"Sky, you're okay. Come on, open your eyes." I tell her softly while shaking her somewhat.

"Dally?" she asks confused as her eyes snap open and she sits up in the bed.

"Yeah, I'm right here Sky." I reassure her.

"Why are you calling me Sky? You always call me short stuff even though I hate that nickname." she asks and I am shocked.

"You remember that my nickname for you is short stuff?" I ask her still shocked.

"Yeah, you were in the dream I just had. You saved me from those same guys that were hurting me. You called me your short stuff and kept reassuring me that I was safe now." she explains.

"Short stuff, you have no idea how happy that makes me that you remember." I tell her as a big smile makes it's way onto my face and I can't help, but wrap her in a tight hug.

"It makes me happy too." she says while surprisingly hugging me back.

"Come on, we have to tell the rest of the gang." I tell her while pulling her up.

"Okay." she says as just the hint of a smile starts to make it's way onto her face, but then it disappears as quick as it came. Mrs. Curtis was right, my Sky is still in there and I know in my gut that she's slowly starting to come back to me. She's starting to come back to all of us.

 **Hi everyone. I know it's been forever since I last updated and some of you thought that I had died, but I haven't. I've just been extremely busy all the time. I've also just been stuck on what to write next with this story. I want to thank those of you who checked in with me to see how I was doing health wise it meant a lot. I am doing so much better now. I'm a month into my last year of college and I am just swamped with schoolwork. Sadly, this update doesn't mean that I'm going to start regularly updating again. This was the last chapter I had written and I thought I might as well post it. I know it's short, but like I said I'm stuck on what to write and where to take this story next right now. I do plan on finishing this story, but at this time I don't know when that will be. I'm just trying to focus on myself, family, school, and finally earning my degree right now. I'm sorry if you're disappointed by this, but this is just what my life is right now. I want to thank all of you who have stuck with my story and continue to stick with it, it really means a lot to me. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this short, but sweet Dally and Sky moment chapter. :)**


	30. Chapter 29

**Carter's POV**

That bitch is going to pay for what she did to me. She's going to pay for ruining my life. It's all her fault that I had to leave town for over a year. I'm back now though, she just doesn't know it yet. She will soon though, very soon. I'm just hiding out in this run down house on the outskirts of town until it's time to initiate step two of my plan for that little bitch. If Connor did everything exactly how I told him to then step one should already be complete. I'm hoping that idiot actually did something right for once and didn't mess it all up. It's been a few weeks since I sent him out to do my dirty work and I should know shortly if he did what he was supposed to. He can't come out here all the time or people will start to suspect something. When I say people I mean those stupid greasers. Connor messed up when he ran into that bitch a couple times and he let it slip out that I was coming back for her. Now not only her family, but all greasers have been keeping an eye out to make sure that the minute one of them sees me back in town that they'll end me before I can even get within fifty feet of her. I didn't expect any of this to be easy though I mean it wasn't in the beginning so why would it be easy now. I guess it's my fault for picking like the only greaser girl as my target two years ago, but I just couldn't help myself. It might've been easier if she wasn't from the Curtis family and if her older brother wasn't pretty much the leader of the greasers, but when you want something it's never easy to get. It's always a challenge and I never back down from a challenge.

"Hey." Connor says when he comes through the door.

"Is it done?" I ask him.

"Yeah, we ran her over just like you told us to." he says.

"She's not dead though, right?" I ask him wanting to make sure that he didn't hit her hard enough to kill her. I want that bitch alive.

"No, we didn't kill her. We just hit her hard enough that she ended up in the hospital." he says.

"Is she still in the hospital?" I ask him.

"No, she was released a couple weeks ago." he says.

"Is she still in bad shape?" I ask him. I don't care if she's still injured, but she needs to have healed up enough where she can go somewhere by herself. I won't be able to get her alone with me if she's surrounded by all her brothers and those other idiot greasers.

"She still has a broken leg, but it's healed enough where she's out of the wheelchair and is on crutches now. She still has a few bruised ribs and bruises here and there, but she's getting well enough where she should be allowed to go somewhere by herself soon." he says.

"Perfect." I say as a smirk takes over my face.

"You haven't even heard the best part though." he says.

"What else is there?" I ask him intrigued.

"When we ran her over she hit her head really hard on the concrete." he says.

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" I ask him getting a little ticked off if that's all he wanted to tell me because it's meaningless.

"She hit her head so hard that she now has amnesia. She doesn't remember anything that you did to her a couple years ago, she doesn't remember who her family is or who any of her friends are, she doesn't even remember who she is. She has no recollection of any part of her life. All she knows is the little bit that she does remember which isn't much and what she's been told about herself and her life." he tells me as the same smirk that mimics mine takes over his face.

"She doesn't remember any of the shit we did to her?" I ask him shocked, but thrilled at the same time as the wheels start turning in my head.

"Nope, none of it." he says.

"Maybe getting her away from all of them will be easier then I thought." I say.

"How?" he asks.

"If she doesn't remember anything then she won't remember what I look like or who I am. All I have to do is get her alone. If I can get her alone I might not even have to take her by force. If I can talk to her and get her to trust me enough she might come with me willingly." I say.

"Just wait a couple more weeks to give her a little more time to heal and by that point hopefully she'll be able to go at least on a walk by herself." he says.

"I hate waiting, but if I have to wait for a little bit longer to get that bitch then I will." I say.

"I'll keep an eye on her from afar like I've been doing and I'll come back in a couple weeks when I know for sure that she'll be alone at some point." he says before leaving.

I always said that the little bitch would never see me coming when I came back, but now she really won't see me coming. The best part of all of this is not only the fact that she's lost all her memories, but that I'll be able to hurt her all over again and it will be just like how it was in the beginning when it was the best. It will be like when she wasn't used to it and still put up a fight and constantly cried out in agony because of all the pain I was inflicting on her. You just wait Sky, I'm coming for you and this time you won't get away from me.

 **I can't make any promises that I'm back to updating on a regular basis, but the idea for this chapter just popped into my head and I had the time to write it so I did. I know this isn't the longest chapter in the world, but at least it's another chapter and a new update. I think writing this chapter gave me a few ideas on the direction I want to take with the next few chapters. Hopefully I'll have some more time to write soon and I'll be able to write another chapter. I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think. Please review!**


End file.
